Matthew Knights has put the idea of the AFL introducing an AFL-style lottery system for determining the draft order.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/ ... 42,00.html
I like the idea ... sick of the Eagles pulling Cox for the season - so to speak - ruining my SC team.

But say the bottom 4 or bottom 6 go into the lottery, then doesn't a team like Sydney or even Hawthorn then have the incentive to tank in the hope that they might get the number 1 pick? There is always going to be the conjecture, because there's always going to be 1 or more teams on the cusp of some variety of advantage in the draft. They can't lottery the whole thing either, because what if Geelong got the number 1 draft pick in 2007 after winning the GF by 120 points?

Should be 2 lotterys - 1 for the bottom 8 teams and 1 for the top 8 teams. The bottom 8 teams will always get the 1st 8 picks in the draft but the order will be random and use the lottery for each rnd. That will stop tanking, and it might see teams that finish 9th - 12th each year where they don't bottom out have the chance to pick up a good kid that could help them take the next step.

Agree about the Lottery for the Bottom 8 but think leave for the top 8

Yeah bugger the top 8. They're trying as hard as they can week in week out, so is more accurate I spose....

If Hawthorn finish 9th, should they have the chance to get the first pick ahead of Melbourne or Freo - THAT'S STUPID!!!!! No Lottery system-full stop!
Ladder position is the only fair way to judge a team's ranking. There is no team outside of the current top 10 that would be reasably expected to challenge for the premiership in the next 2 years - tanking would involve a team who should be inside the 8 being around the bottom & then making a huge jump the following year. Carlton might have "tanked" 1 game in 2007 but their 2008 season proved that they still weren't a great side. Even now they are barely inside the top 8.
Are we that predictable that we need to discuss the same things at the same times every year - in September we'll be talking about the lack of seats at the Grand Final too.

Obviously yes, we are! lol. Its going to be an issue forever. We may aswell just pretend it doesn't exist!

This is the best system
Its the system the NBA uses

The bottom team will get 8 balls in the lottery
15th- 7 balls
14th- 6 balls
etc

except its on a larger scale

I think it should be introduced

So if there were say, 100 players in any given draft, the 16th team, who gets 8 balls could still potentially end up with picks 93-100?

No it works for the 1st round
and then for 2nd round etc it goes back to ladder order, you only put the bottom 8 teams in the lottery and its for the 1st 8 picks

Bottom 6 I reckon would do. The 9th and 10th sides would battle till the end as they want to make the finals....

Relegation would make sure they wouldn't tank either. Again GET SERIOUS.

The competition is unfair & coaches/clubs will exploit any rule to get an advantage. We have father/son, unfair draw, unfair teams having all the blockbuster, unfair stadium deals, teams playing at home ground more than others, etc. etc. etc.

If you want fair, follow another game - the AFL is what it is!!!!

i like the idea of....
9th - 1st
10th - 2nd
11th - 3rd
12th - 4th
13th - 5th
14th - 6th
15th - 7th
16th - 8th
8th - 9th
7th - 10th
6th - 11th
5th - 12th
4th - 13th
3rd - 14th
2nd - 15th
1st - 16th

with the position on the left and pick on the right, as it gives bottom eight sides an incentive to win.
It might still mean that teams 5 - 8 might still tank to get number one, but then they would miss finals

This debate never seems to end, bloody media.

Anyway, if such a system comes into place there has to be some scaling or groupings occuring. Because similar to what Paulski said, if would be absurd if the #1 team got a heap of high picks while the lower teams got poorer ones. It would make it even harder for struggling teams to climb the ladder if they weren't allowed concessions they desperately needed.

Then again, this probably will never happen until if/when some form of free agency is introduced.

Thats a terrible idea

Look...the current system is working really well. Sure it might be annoying that team can mean to lose to get an advantage, but so what. Is anyone seriously saying that Melbourne are a good team that don't deserve pick 1? In the last 10 years, 16 different teams have played in Preliminary Finals which is fantastic. Especially when you look at a dodgy competition like the EPL, which only 3 or 4 teams have even won the thing in the last 50 years....

The best system is

a lottery for bottom 8 picks

If you finish 16th you get 8 balls in the barrel
If you finish 15th you get 7 balls in the barrel
If you finish 14th you get 6 balls in the barrel
If you finish 13th you get 5 balls in the barrel
If you finish 12th you get 4 balls in the barrel
If you finish 11th you get 3 balls in the barrel
If you finish 10th you get 2 balls in the barrel
If you finish 9th you get 1 ball in the barrel

Then you draw for 1st pick once a team is selected all their remaining balls get taken out and you then draw for pick 2
all that teams remaining balls are taken out and they draw for pick 3 and so on..

The top 8 selections stay the same. It will effectively kill 'Tanking' your not going to tank games to get an extra ball in the barrel and your not going to miss the finals to get in the draw with one ball. It would work, get behind it!!

Why can't the 1st draft pick go on a rotational basis?

Once every 16 years you get a number one pick. Instantly fair.

Mediocrity shouldn't get rewarded.

im not saying there is anything wrong with the current system, but if they were to change it, i dont like the idea of a lottery, so i think the way i posted would be nice - if they were to change it

I think it's simple - Bottom team SHOULD get first pick.

Run the picks 16th to 1st first round, the second round goes 1st to 16th and so on.

Easy Peasy.

You get the club who has the players with the most weird arse names and give 'em pick 1
You get the club who has the players with the most boring names and give 'em pick 16
Except Carlton who get nothing and Collingwood who get pick 70
Done.