The AFL's sweeping changes to the National Draft have not been well received by all 18 AFL clubs, albeit well needed.

In previous years, father/son and academy players could be acquired by their parent club by matching the points tally to within 10 per cent of the pick used to bid on said player.

For example, in 2022, Brisbane’s Will Ashcroft was bid on at Pick 2, equal to 2,517 points. To match the bid, Brisbane gave up picks 34, 35, 38, 40 and 41, equal to 2,370 points – within 10 per cent of the required total.

The new changes will no longer permit clubs from matching points with such ease.

Effective immediately, clubs can only use a maximum of two draft picks to match a bid, and they must be within the first 36 picks.

From now on, clubs who finish in the top two will have to pay a further 20 per cent on the original bid, preliminary finals clubs pay a further 10 per cent, 5th to 10th receive no additional cost, while non-finalists earn a 10 per cent cut.

Furthermore, any club that has a top five pick pushed back due to a bid in the early stages will be entitled to an additional pick, landing at the beginning of the second round.

While the changes are entirely necessary, they come at a significantly costly time for two clubs in particular, with both Carlton (Cody Walker) and Port Adelaide (Dougie Cochrane) now expected to pay up to match very early bids in this year’s draft.

Speaking on the new rules, Port Adelaide chairman David Koch suggested that the changes are the antithesis of the fairness the AFL preaches.

“We’re furious,” Koch said.

“It is putting the ‘V’ back in the AFL. The AFL talks about fairness and equalisation – interstate clubs are already at a disadvantage with all the travel we do.

“Now, to change the rules so dramatically like this, and bring them in just months before the draft rather than like the NFL do and major sporting organisations around the world, they ease them in over two or three years, we just bring them in, bang.”

Garry Lyon dismissed Koch’s take.

“They flagged this last year; they haven’t just gone ‘bang’. There was a bit of a push to bring it in last year from some clubs, but they resisted that temptation,” Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.

“Maybe it’s because we’ve been hearing about Cody Walker for a long period of time, and the boy from Port Adelaide has also emerged for a period of time – Dougie Cochrane.

“When they are as high profile as that, the Carlton supporters have been rubbing their hands together for a long time, thinking ‘how good is this going to be, we’re going to get him like Brisbane got Will Ashcroft’. Now, they’re going to have to pony up.

“The commentary around this is always seen through the eyes of the club, not in the eyes of what’s great for the competition. I understand entirely where ‘Kochie’ is coming from, but someone is going to get upset at some stage when you try to make this a more equitable setup.”

Tim Watson added: “Which is why we initially introduced the AFL Commission, and we took all the decision making away from the AFL presidents back in the day and gave it to what was considered to be – at that time – an independent body whose decision making is based on what’s best for the game.

“The other problem that we are always going to have, and this is what we’ve had since day one – it is an artificial construct, the national competition. We put teams up in Brisbane and in New South Wales, and they are not heartlands of AFL football.

“There has always been that consideration about how everything can be balanced to cater for these other emerging and developing markets.”

Lyon: “I didn’t understand the ‘V’ – putting the ‘V’ (Victoria) back in the AFL. Carlton wouldn’t suggest the ‘V’ is being put back into the AFL in this instance Kochie!

“Andrew Bassat (St Kilda president) also said that it will encourage tanking because the teams that finish in the bottom five, should there be a bid made by one of those five teams, they will all go up a wrung and that means they then get a compensatory pick at the end of the first round.

“Bassat says that’s going to induce clubs to tank so that they can get the two picks instead of the one.”

Watson: “Because of the difference between fifth and sixth, you get towards the end, and you think, ‘let’s put a couple of these blokes away for an operation a little bit early, we’ll still lose a couple of games, and we’ll benefit as a result of that.”

Lyon: “There’s no questioning the benefit of finishing fifth last as opposed to sixth.”