Some positive news just in case we end up down the bottom again......-----------------------------------------
Prized teens out of reach of Gold Coast
Jake Niall | April 11, 2008
THE projected standout players in this year's draft, such as Nicholas Natanui and Daniel Rich, will be available to the bottom clubs and will not be accessible to the start-up Gold Coast team.
But the AFL is expected to grant the 17th club access to the some of the best 15- and 16-year-old players in the land over the next two years in a bid to gradually build a competitive team, without gutting the 2008 and 2009 drafts for the existing clubs.
In effect, the impact of the new club is likely to be greatest on the 2010 draft pool — and consequently on the clubs that are at or near the bottom then. The Gold Coast team is slated to start in 2011.
The AFL is mindful of restraint-of-trade issues with players in this year's draft pool, given that Natanui, Rich and several others would have legal recourse if they were "given" to the infant Gold Coast club and warehoused until that club entered the competition.
Perth-based Natanui and Rich have already been touted as top three draft picks.
The former, a 197-centimetre super-athletic ruckman/forward, would have almost certainly been selected as the No. 1 pick had he been eligible for the 2007 draft.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/gold-coast-cant-reach-teens/2008/04/10/1207420592431.html
