• Key dates for the NAB AFL Trade Period
COLLINGWOOD could need to go into a draft points debt next year if it chooses to match earlier than expected bids on father-son prospects Josh Daicos and Callum Brown.
The Magpies are set to nominate the pair as eligible father-son selections ahead of the NAB AFL Draft on November 25 but will wait until the night before deciding whether to match bids on the midfield duo.
A factor complicating things for the Pies this year, however, is the club's lack of selections at this year's draft.
Collingwood's first pick currently sits in the second round (No.28 overall), but the Pies may need to use that selection to land Greater Western Sydney forward Will Hoskin-Elliott.
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The Pies' remaining selections in the first five rounds (No.47, No.65, No.83) are worth just 406 points under the father-son and academy live bidding system.
They are likely to bring in a later selection (potentially No.63) from the Western Bulldogs in a trade for Travis Cloke, which would add 112 more points to their bounty to use on the father-son picks.
Brown, the son of former Collingwood captain Gavin, is likely to attract a bid before Daicos, the son of 1990 premiership hero Peter.
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Brown seems most likely to have his name called some time in the second or third round, which means if it came before the Pies' pick 47 they would get the 20 per cent discount afforded to the nominating clubs.
Collingwood would be able to match the bid with that pick and, if more points were required to match the bid, its next pick would get pushed down the order.
But if a bid came in about the same range for Daicos, a small forward/midfielder tipped to be taken anywhere in the pick 30-50 bracket, then the Pies could be forced to go into a points deficit for next year's draft.
This wouldn't necessarily be a disastrous result for the club, though.
The AFL added a safeguard to its complex system last year to protect the future first-round picks of clubs who want to take a father-son or academy player late in the draft.
It means that a club will not risk pushing back its first pick in the following year's draft if it goes into a points debt by choosing a later-round selection.
Instead, any points incurred for later round players can be repaid in the round the bid is received. A first-round draft position would only be altered if a bid came in the previous year's first round, which seems unlikely for the Collingwood pair.
This means that if the Pies go into deficit by matching an early third-round bid for Daicos, then their third-round pick next year would be shuffled down the order to make up the leftover points.
