Ryan Daniels: Father-son nostalgia ain’t what it used to be after Brisbane land top talent Levi Ashcroft

Imagine you were in the market to buy a house — which is very difficult to do right now. You’re ready to put an offer in on a place; only the real estate agent steps in with some info. She says there’s another bidder. That bidder’s parents used to live in this very house 15 years ago. It’s a nice story, young family, looking to follow in the footsteps of their heritage. They grew up there, their name is etched into the tree out the back. That bidder’s offer is lower than yours, by 20 per cent actually, but the owner picks their offer, because, you know, nostalgia. Oh, and this other bidder is coming off a successful year where they bought five other houses. Thankfully for the real estate market, nostalgia is irrelevant — unlike in footy. I hate being that guy. The guy who whinges about everything. I love footy — I really do. But the constant cycle of stupidity and mismanagement with the AFL draft system demands attention. The draft is broken, the game’s great lever of equality has snapped off, and the solution to fixing it is so obvious, yet constantly ignored. This 2024 draft was rated by list managers and recruiters as the best there’s been in years — high end talent, deep pool — and while there were a number of potential superstars taken at the top end, the consensus had Levi Ashcroft as the best talent of all. And yet, he didn’t hear his name called out until pick 5. Why? Because Levi, like his brother Will, was a father-son pick for the Brisbane Lions. The Tigers, Roos, Blues and Crows, owners of the first four selections, all elected not to bid on Ashcroft, meaning Brisbane got a massive discount on the kid. Melbourne finally made a bid on Ashcroft with pick 5, forcing the Lions to pay up — using picks 40, 42, 43 and 46. Ridiculous. Confused? I don’t blame you. Here’s how it works: The AFL attaches a “points value” to each draft pick. Pick one is worth 3000 points, with that number declining with each pick right down to pick 73, which is worth just nine points. If a bid comes for a father-son or academy player, the club with claims to the kid must match the value of the points, if they want him. So, if he goes pick one, you’d need 3000 points to match. But in my best Danoz Direct steak knives voice “but wait, there’s more!” Because the system isn’t ridiculous enough, the AFL then applies a 20 per cent “discount” to the point total — so in the case of pick one, it drops from 3000 down to 2400. From there, the onus is on the other clubs to bid as early as possible, to drive the price up. But they usually don’t. It’s not always in the best interest of those clubs to bid on other team’s talent. It could burn them down the track — when they have their own talent worth bidding on in future drafts. You don’t stab my back — I won’t stab yours. Then there’s the weird dynamic between the club and the player they actually draft. Richmond want Sam Lalor to feel like he’s the belle of the ball, to be pick one, that he’s their guy. So, they take Lalor and let the responsibility of Ashcroft’s price fall to North — who then do the same with Finn O’Sullivan. And it goes on. Back on Ashcroft because Melbourne were the first club to place a bid, at pick 5, you take the 1878 points that pick is worth, apply the discount of 20 per cent, and the Lions need to find just 1502 points. Which is done by using those four picks 40-plus. The AFL is tweaking the system slightly next year, reducing the discount from 20 per cent to 10 per cent on pick points but it’s still not enough. Brisbane — and any other club with a high-end prospect such as Ashcroft — should at the very least be forced to give up real assets to match bids; say, a pick within 10 selections of the bid as minimum. And the discount should be scrapped. The discount comes with the access — the ability to match the bids. You can’t blame the Lions, they’re just operating within the system and they’ve done it brilliantly. Like the Pies before them, with the Daicos brothers and Darcy Moore, all father-son picks, the Lions are set to build their future around Levi and his older brother Will — the reigning Norm Smith medallist. The draft is an equalisation tool, the most important one we have, and handing the reigning premiers the best player in the draft for a handful of picks in the 40s is absurd, no matter how you look at it. The father-son rule is fantastic, it’s romantic, it’s one of the truly unique and nostalgic elements of our game. But for the love of God can we make these clubs pay the correct price?