Live pick trading a draft boonrichmondfc.com.au
October 6, 2018Richmond Recruiting Officer Luke Williams has outlined how the introduction of live trading of picks at this year’s AFL national draft will benefit the Tigers and other league clubs.
“It’s pretty exciting for the industry,” Williams told ‘Roar Vision’ at the completion of the annual four-day AFL draft combine.
“It gives us a bit of flexibility . . . Prior to this year, we’ve known which picks we’ve got, and in some cases you’re hopeful that a particular player will get to your pick.
“But this sort of flexibility gives us a chance to really hone in on some players that are a big focus for us and potentially work with some other clubs to push up the order or back down . . . whatever it might be.
“It gives us a better chance of landing the player that we are really after.”
The 2018 AFL national draft will be held over two days for the first time – on Thursday, November 22 and Friday, November 23 – at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.
Live pick trading will enable clubs to exchange picks to move up or down the order while the draft is in progress.
Future picks from the following year can also be swapped, however, once a player is drafted, he can’t be on-traded to another club.
Williams highlighted the overall value of the draft combine for AFL recruiters, who this year were able to watch a total of 85 draft hopefuls compete in a variety of physical tests and had the opportunity to interview them.
“Nothing beats watching the players play football . . . ultimately this experience at the combine just confirms and complements the information that we’ve already gathered. So it ends up being quite crucial to our end decision-making,” Williams said.
“Coming into what is going to be our first experience of live trading, the more information we can gather, the better.
“So this year’s combine, in particular, has been really crucial for that.”
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2018-10-06/live-pick-trading-a-draft-boon
