Mr Demetriou said the Commission had approved the recommendations of the List Development working group at its monthly meeting in Melbourne last week, and these rules were forwarded to the 16 AFL clubs, and GC17, earlier today.
 
Mr Demetriou said the working group had comprised both AFL and club representatives, incorporating experts within the game from across club management, list development and talent identification.
 
“The working group met through May, June, July and August, as well as meeting with each AFL club and consulting with its CEO, Football Manager, Recruiting Manager and Senior Coach,” Mr Demetriou said.
 
“The group also took written submissions from each club. The two broad objectives of its recommendations to the AFL commission were that GC17 should be able to assemble a competitive list on its entry to the competition in 2011, coupled with minimising the downside and making available trade and draft opportunities to the existing 16 AFL clubs,” he said.
 
Mr Demetriou said the AFL Commission had required a close examination of how the lists were compiled for each of the last five clubs to enter the AFL Competition – West Coast (1987), Brisbane Bears (1987), Adelaide (1991), Fremantle (1995) and Port Adelaide (1997).
 
It was the view of the Commission that the rules put in place had to achieve a balance between GC17 having enough mature players on entry to the competition to be competitive but not trading away its access to future talent.
 
“There was a comprehensive examination of the entry lists and early performances of each of the recent new clubs to the competition – West Coast, Brisbane Bears, Adelaide, Fremantle and Port Adelaide,” Mr Demetriou said.
 
“There is a clear trend in AFL football that first year players are now playing fewer AFL games and that the physical gap between players entering the system and those players already at AFL clubs has never been greater.
 
“It is the consensus view of AFL clubs across the competition that it takes three to four years of development for most players to adapt to AFL level and that the successful composition of a strong club list can take five to eight years.
 
“The rules for GC17 had to reflect both the capacity for the club to have access to older players in its initial entry and access to talent to develop a long-term competitive group,” he said.
 
The Entry Rules for GC17 will be as follows:
1. 2009 NAB AFL Draft:
GC17 to have the capacity to sign 12 x 17 year-olds born in the January – April window (Jan-April 1992).
 
2. 2010 NAB AFL Draft:
GC17 to have Pick One in Each Round.
GC 17 to have Picks 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 in Round One.
 
3. 2009 NAB Rookie Draft:
GC17 to have Selections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
 
4. 2010 NAB Rookie Draft
GC17 to alternate Queensland priority selections with Brisbane Lions. GC17 to have first selection.
 
5. Zoned Access
GC17 to have zoned access to up to five Queensland players prior to each of 2010, 2011 and 2012 NAB AFL Drafts.
GC17 to have zoned access to up to three Northern Territory player prior to the 2010 NAB AFL Draft
 
6. 2010 Post Season, AFL Listed Played Access
GC17 to have capacity to pre-list 10 players who had previously nominated for the AFL Draft, or were previously listed with an AFL club.
GC17 to have capacity to sign up to 16 uncontracted players.
 
Mr Demetriou said GC17 would also have an expanded list size and TPP allowance in the club’s initial four years from 2011 to 2014, which would be as follows:
2011 – 48 senior list, nine rookies with $1m TPP extra allowance;
2012 – 46 senior list, nine rookies with $800k TPP extra allowance;
2013 – 42 senior list, nine rookies with $600k TPP extra allowance;
2014 – 40 senior list, nine rookies with $400k TPP extra allowance;
2015 – 38 senior list, nine rookies in line with other AFL clubs.
 
While the Working Group considered an expanded list and allowance for the first three years, the AFL Commission accepted a recommendation from the executive that given the challenge of building a club, the list and allowance should phase out over four years.
 
Further, as part of the entry rules for the GC17 side, Mr Demetriou said the AFL Commission had resolved that any club that lost a player to the expansion side would be eligible for a compensation pick (after the entry of both GC17 and the second club to be based in Sydney ).
 
Compensation picks will be tradeable and can be used by clubs at any time within five years . First round compensation picks can not be used until the end of the first round in the 2010 and 2011 drafts. Clubs will be required to nominate the year in which they plan to use the compensation pick before the first round of the Toyota AFL Premiership Season in that particular year.
 
The compensatory pick would be assessed around the player’s age (greater weighting for younger players), club contract ranking (greater weighting for club key players), on field performance (greater weighting for strong club best and fairest performance) and draft position if less than four years experience.
 
This ranking system will then determine if a club is eligible for a compensatory pick in one of five spots -- first round pick, end of first round pick, second round pick, end of second round pick or third round pick. Under the model, the round one, round two or round three picks would be taken immediately after the pick the club already has in that round in the draft that year.
 
Please find attached below an example of how the 2010 NAB AFL Draft would look, under these concession rules.
 
The List Management Group was: Andrew Dillon (Chairman, AFL General Manager Legal and Business Affairs), Graeme Allan (Brisbane Lions FC Football Operations Manager), Adrian Anderson (AFL General Manager Football Operations), Derek Hine (Collingwood FC Recruiting Manager), Andrew Ireland (Sydney Swans FC Football Operations Manager), David Matthews (AFL General Manager National and International Development), Tony Peek (AFL Assistant to CEO), Ian Robson (Hawthorn FC CEO), Cameron Schwab (former Fremantle FC CEO), Kevin Sheehan (AFL National Talent Manager), Steven Trigg (Adelaide FC CEO), Stephen Wells (Geelong FC Recruiting Manager).
 
2010 NAB AFL Draft: (Example Draft Order before trading)
Round One
1 GC17
2 GC17
3 GC17
4 Club 16 on 2010 ladder
5 GC17
6 Club 15 on 2010 ladder
7 GC17
8 Club 14 on 2010 ladder
9 GC17
10 Club 13 on 2010 ladder
11 GC17
12 Club 12 on 2010 ladder
13 GC17
14 Club 11 on 2010 ladder
15 GC17
16 Club 10 on 2010 ladder
17 Club 9 on 2010 ladder
18 Club 8 on 2010 ladder
19 Club 7 on 2010 ladder
20 Club 6 on 2010 ladder
21 Club 5 on 2010 ladder
22 Club 4 on 2010 ladder
23 Club 3 on 2010 ladder
24 Club 2 on 2010 ladder
25 Club 1 on 2010 ladder
 
Round Two
26 GC17
27 Club 16 on 2010 ladder
28 Club 15 on 2010 ladder
29 Club 14 on 2010 ladder
30 Club 13 on 2010 ladder
31 Club 12 on 2010 ladder
32 Club 11 on 2010 ladder
33 Club 10 on 2010 ladder
34 Club 9 on 2010 ladder
35 Club 8 on 2010 ladder
36 Club 7 on 2010 ladder
37 Club 6 on 2010 ladder
38 Club 5 on 2010 ladder
39 Club 4 on 2010 ladder
40 Club 3 on 2010 ladder
41 Club 2 on 2010 ladder
42 Club 1 on 2010 ladder
 
Round Three
43 GC 17
44 Club 16 on 2010 ladder
45 Club 15 on 2010 ladder
46 Club 14 on 2010 ladder
47 Club 13 on 2010 ladder
48 Club 12 on 2010 ladder
49 Club 11 on 2010 ladder
50 Club 10 on 2010 ladder
51 Club 9 on 2010 ladder
52 Club 8 on 2010 ladder
53 Club 7 on 2010 ladder
54 Club 6 on 2010 ladder
55 Club 5 on 2010 ladder
56 Club 4 on 2010 ladder
57 Club 3 on 2010 ladder
58 Club 2 on 2010 ladder
59 Club 1 on 2010 ladder