Draft a slog even for rusted-on fans

CONSIDER us footy tragics here on the sports desk of this newspaper.

We can sit though marathon tribunal hearings, take a back seat at league meetings and listen to the argy-bargy, devour pages of investigative reports and scan results for local names.

We’ve probably got a high threshold for the mundane, so I’ve got to say this year’s AFL draft was a tough slog. And we were only watching — let alone waiting to hear our fate!

With father-son bidding, next generation academies, northern academies, live trading of picks (not just in this year’s draft but next year’s), the AFL is at serious risk of making the draft unwatchable and too hard to follow for even the most rusted-on footy fans.

Which, to be honest, is at odds with the direction the AFL is trying to take.

So besotted by American sports, the AFL, for the first time this year, ran the national draft over two days.

On Thursday night was the first round — the big prime time round — while the following day the rest of the selections were read out ... then, after a few hours, the rookie picks. In years past, when the draft was tucked away on a Saturday morning, it probably took two hours for clubs to whip through more than 100 selections. This year it took two hours to just complete the first round. Sydney even needed the insight of a data analyst to uncover the potential benefit of a live trade. So if the clubs themselves need this type of expert knowledge to work it out, how is the average punter meant to play along on the couch? The AFL’s biggest problem is that until TAC Cup matches are broadcast on television, the everyday footy fan has very little knowledge of the players up for grabs in the draft pool.

Sure, outlets like us can provide as much information as possible, but to gain a true impression of the best under-age talent in the land, fans need to have watched the players for longer than just a few highlights packages on the internet.

I mean, who doesn’t look good in a highlights package?

In America, the draft phenomenon only works because the players have been through the College system first, where their performances and matches are scrutinised with the same type of blanket coverage that the main event gets. By the time they’re eligible for the draft, everyone knows everything about them.

If the AFL wants to continue with its prime-time draft bonanza, it needs to make it more appealing on a number of fronts for everyone.