THE AFL has rejected a report that questioned the legality of the trade deal in which Hawthorn landed Gold Coast star Jaeger O'Meara.
News Corporation reported on Wednesday morning that the League had rubber-stamped the Hawks' wish to trade away its first two picks in next year's NAB AFL Draft – a move it claimed was in contravention of AFL rules – to clinch O'Meara.
News Corporation cited an AFL rule that states: "Should a club trade its future first round selection, it may not trade any other future selection for that same draft."
The AFL clarified that Hawthorn satisfied "the full wording of the rule", which reveals the League must treat transactions over the NAB AFL Trade Period as "a net result".
The complex sequence of events started when Hawthorn completed another controversial deal, trading its future 2017 first-round selection (and 2016 picks 23 and 36) to St Kilda in exchange for 2016 picks 10 and 68.
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said a minor error had occurred, and he had no problem with the trade.
"It was an administrative error. We're talking about a GWS second-rounder next year against Hawthorn's. I think it's a little bit over-hyped," McLachlan said.
He denied that AFL and club officials struggled to understand the rules regarding trading future draft picks.
"The rules are clear, the trade was perfectly legal and I don't think there was any grey in that. If anyone needed clarification and they spoke to (total player payments manager) Ken Wood during the process, they would have got pretty clear answers," McLachlan added.
In the frantic dying stages before the trade deadline, the Hawks then sealed a deal with Carlton for Greater Western Sydney’s future second-round pick.
This final move ensured O'Meara's passage to Hawthorn.
The AFL has conceded it then made an error by stating in its initial media release that Hawthorn had on-traded the Giants' future second-round pick, when in reality the Hawks had surrendered their own future second-rounder.
The League has since corrected this mistake, and the trade has been updated on AFL.com.au.
The AFL's media relations manager Patrick Keane rejected any suggestion the League had allowed Hawthorn to work outside the rules.
"The full wording of the rule says it is to be treated as a net result," Keane told AFL.com.au.
"If you trade out a (future) first-round selection, you must have a (future) second-round selection.
"So therefore, once they traded in a second-round selection, they were then able to trade out either that second-round selection or their own second-round selection.
"The club still retains a second-round selection in next year's draft."
