The AFL has admitted it is more forgiving of trades that would be unlikely to be approved in the trade period but are acceptable under live trading in the national draft.
The bigger picture desire to have more liberal movement of picks and create a more exciting broadcast event meant the AFL was open to deals they would otherwise shut down.
The league ticked off on the contentious staggered deal between Sydney and West Coast on Thursday night that allowed Sydney to trade out of the draft to get Nick Blakey relatively cheaply and then trade back into the draft with West Coast for a second-round draft pick.
The two deals only made sense when they were connected, but each deal in isolation would almost certainly not have been approved on its own in the trade period as it was not fair or commercially balanced.
“We are really happy with the way its gone,” AFL executive Andrew Dillon said.
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Sydney draftee Nick Blakey.Credit:AAP
“It is different trading on the night. We were more open to options. We will look at everything in totality (every deal even when in multiple stages across the draft after more picks are taken) because it did add a lot to the draft and the feedback from the clubs and the broadcaster early doors is they were really happy with how it worked.
“With live trading obviously its a new regime we are working under and the Swans and West Coast came to us with it and we were comfortable to tick it off in two parts.
“It was on the bounds of (what is a commercially acceptable deal) but when we looked at it and looking at it with live trading and making it open we were comfortable to allow it.
“We will also go back now and review how it all went and make sure that the integrity of the draft is always there. They still paid the same points for Blakey. They still paid eighty per cent of what pick 10 is worth.”
The second stage of the split national draft was completed at Marvel Stadium on Friday afternoon with clubs more aggressively trading draft picks.
Six players were drafted out of the VFL and 11 of the 78 players drafted were from next generation or northern academies.
Hawthorn became the first club to pass on an academy player when they declined to match Essendons bid at pick 38 for small forward Irving Mosquito.
Hawthorns next pick was at 52 with which they took key defender Jacob Koschitzke, cousin of ex-St Kilda player Justin.
Six father-son players – Oscar Brownless (Geelong), Ben Silvagni (Carlton), Bailey Scott and Joel Crocker (North Melbourne), Will Kelly (Collingwood) and Rhylee West (Western Bulldogs) – were drafted to their fathers clubs.
Scott had been eligible for Geelong and North Melbourne but had nominated North as the club he would go to. Cheekily it was then Geelong that bid on Scott. North matched the bid.
Melbourne bid for West at pick 26. The Dogs, with pick 30, did not want to lose that high pick for West so traded it to Fremantle for pick 34 and 41 meaning they lost 31 for West and still had pick 41 in the draft. Without the trade they would have lost pick 30 for West.
Collingwood did not have to go into deficit to pick up Kelly at pick 29.
Brad and Stephen Hills cousin Ian joined the Giants and Brodie Grundys brother Riley was drafted to Port Adelaide.
The son of horse trainer David Hayes, Will Hayes, was taken by the Western Bulldogs with the last pick in the draft at selection 78.
Michael Gleeson is a senior AFL football writer and Fairfax Media's athletics writer. He also covers tennis, cricket and other sports. He won the AFL Players Association Grant Hattam Trophy for excellence in journalism for the second time in 2014 and was a finalist in the 2014 Quill Awards for best sports feature writer. He was also a finalist in the 2014 Australian Sports Commission awards for his work on Boots for Kids. He is a winner of the AFL Media Association award for best news reporter and a two-time winner of Cricket Victorias cricket writer of the year award. Michael has covered multiple Olympics, Commonwealth Games and world championships and 15 seasons of AFL, He has also written seven books – five sports books and two true crime books.
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