THE AFL plans to have met with at least eight clubs by Friday, and to eventually consult with all 16, as it canvasses recruiting proposals for the new Gold Coast and Western Sydney franchises.
While the main objective is to ensure the new teams are competitive, the league says minimising the impact on existing clubs of setting up two new lists runs a close second.
"The clubs have to absolutely be involved in the process in formulating the final model," AFL game development manager Dave Matthews told afl.com.au.
"The clubs have been provided with some background reading, and then the discussions focus on some particular models that we're presenting on the day.
"It's good discussion. This is the core business of footy clubs – re recruiting and developing lists – and their perspectives are critical. So far, some of the thinking we've had is confirmed, and there have been some good suggestions too.
"It's just a really important process, and the thing that everyone has broad agreement on is that the longer the lead time, the better placed we are to achieve both objectives."
Matthews said the process would first involve discussing proposals with the clubs, although the idea of an "expansion draft" where players outside a team’s nominated best were free to be poached was seen as best avoided.
He said a sub-committee of two nominated CEOs, two football managers and two recruiting managers would meet before taking the final model to the AFL Commission.
"We're saying to each club, ‘You've all got different expertise, different perspectives, but we'd like to meet with you club by club to get a real club view of some proposed alternatives’," he said.
"No decisions have been made yet on anything in particular, but what we are doing is putting some models up for debate, because you need to have some idea of the likely scenarios and therefore debate them.
"So we're going through that consultation period, and the main thing out of this will be it will sharpen our thinking about how we can best achieve the two objectives that we've set.
"A key component of the overall plan in relation to Gold Coast and Western Sydney is how you actually put a team together, how you actually develop the lists.
"We've been very conscious of the fact that we need to and want to consult the clubs extensively on that, and we're inviting the clubs and including everyone from their CEO, footy manager, recruiting manager and coach."
Matthews didn't disclose details of the proposals being put to the clubs, but said they related to four core areas: access to local talent, access to national draft talent, access to national rookie talent, and access to existing or uncontracted talent.
"They're the four levers that we're discussing, and we're discussing what competitions would be best applied to develop the kids once you get them," he said.
"But no firm decisions have been made, everything is on the table, and it's just a great debate."
He also said any flurry of trading that might be caused by the franchises winning a number of top-end draft picks could be a positive for both new and existing clubs.
"We're discussing the fact that when you provide a club with access to young local and national talent, it's pretty hard to be competitive purely and simply with young players," he said.
"Clearly, there's an opportunity for the club and the existing clubs to actually trade and look to exchange players.
"We've spoken to a couple of clubs so far and we're talking to the rest over the course of this week, so it's hard to summarise or make broad conclusions about the response when we've only got a few."
