The AFL Draft Could Be Revolutionised Next Year

This will change things...


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The AFL draft could be in for a big change with the introduction of live draft pick trading, with Hawthorn list manager Graham Wright of the opinion it "will come in next year".

Live draft pick trading would be a significant development in the trade and draft period, allowing clubs to trade picks up to draft night and during the draft itself.

The system, which is seen in the NBA and the NFL, could see clubs swap picks based on wants and needs during the actual draft, as it happens.

Wright told HawksTV the prospect of live trading is "exciting".

"I think it'll come in next year, that's my understanding," he said.

"It hasn't been fully tested and how it would work and where we'd all be and whether we would be...at our home bases, all the clubs, or whether we're actually in one venue, how it actually all works hasn't been finalised," he said.

"But my opinion is it will come in next year, which will be exciting."

Wright believes it will just be picks on offer, rather than the live trading of players all the way up to and in the draft.

"(I believe) just picks at this stage. I think the trade period will probably work similarly to how it is now, so there will be picks and players going around the 20th of October."

"Then I think the way it will work is we'll actually be able to trade picks basically after that period of time, where players stop, all the way through to the draft and in the draft.

"It will be an exciting and new phase in what the draft will look like."

22 October 2017




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