Carlton willing to go into draft debt to snare father-son gun

Jake Niall

March 31, 2026 — 11:39am

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Carlton will consider going into draft “deficit” to snare gun father-son recruit Cody Walker, a potential top three pick this year, after expressing dissatisfaction with the AFL’s timing for draft rules that make clubs pay a heftier price.

Carlton chief executive Graham Wright said the Blues did not know where Walker, the son of 200-game Blue Andrew Walker, would land in bids in this year’s draft or where the Blues would finish this year, nor where the Swans would finish. The Blues hold their own and Sydney’s first round picks, but could well need two higher picks, depending on where the bid lands and those clubs finish.

“But one we don’t know where he’s going to be, but where a bid might come for him,” Wright said of Walker, who is viewed by rival clubs as a top five pick and potentially even top two.

“But secondly, we don’t know where we’re going to finish or Sydney. And we’ve got their first round pick, but we’ve also got two second round picks as well. But also those things are up in the air.

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“You potentially could have to use more picks or go into deficit.”

To go into draft deficit - which clubs have typically avoided early in the draft - would push the Blues further down the draft order with subsequent choices and even in the first round of the 2027 draft, depending on where the bid for Walker lands and which picks are sacrificed.

Under the soon-to-be revised rules, the AFL will make clubs use only two draft picks to pay for father-son and academy players, rather than a bunch of lower value picks. In practice, this means the Blues will likely need to use a pair of first round picks for Walker and if the bid is very high, they might need two higher choices (than they own) to snare the midfielder.

Asked about their willingness to go into draft deficit - and push back other picks - Wright said: “I think you have to, depending on what circumstances you’ve got.

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“At the moment, we don’t know exactly, and there are changes to free agency compensation and that might not affect us, but there’s changes to those rules as well and we just haven’t seen the full … list of rules.”

Carlton, led by Wright and president Rob Priestley, have lobbied the AFL to have the mooted rule change postponed to give clubs such as the Blues more “runway” to organise their draft picks in advance for father son and/or academy recruits. The Blues have Sydney’s first pick this year from the Charlie Curnow trade, and have their first rounders in 2027 and 2028, albeit those drafts will be heavily impacted by the Tasmania Devils’ entrance into the AFL.

“We just felt, and we’ve been really strong with the AFL on this, that we needed some kind of runway to say that will happen in ’27 or 28 or 29 or whatever it is and people can prepare for it,” Wright said “Because we haven’t had the benefits of what others have had.”

In an interview with this masthead last week, before Carlton blew a 43–point lead against the Demons on Sunday, Wright said the Blues had a three-year list plan and would pay 100 per cent of the salary cap this year, but had significant room to pursue free agents or recruits from other clubs.

“We’ll pay 100 per cent this year, but’ve got room. We’ve got plenty of room.”

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Wright said the Blues were making sure they were positioned to bring in players from other clubs.

“When I say discipline around our cap, [that is] one, what we’re prepared to pay, but then making sure we’re in a good position to go forward and under free agency or the trade market, or whatever it might be going into the future.”

Priestley said they wanted to contend consistently.

“We want to be a club that doesn’t go through these cycles and move towards where we are consistently contending, consistently around the hoop...that’s where you’ve got to get yourself to eventually. So one is having that list flexibility and list depth that Graham’s very good at.”

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Priestley said there had been change across every facet of football operations at Carlton.

“When you think about what we’ve done, you know, tech data, AI, high performance, which we changed the year before.. Graham was involved in as deputy CEO, leadership and culture with Travis Boak coming in, coaching advisory, different coaches, changing the list up a bit, bringing more younger talent in to complement the rest...there’s sort of change and focus across every area to try and build what we’re trying to do, which is a club that consistently contending.”

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