‘Never a good time’: Blues, Power lose battle over AFL draft shake-up

April 29, 2026 — 12:20pm

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Carlton and Port Adelaide have lost their battle with the AFL over rule changes and will have to pay more at the national draft for father-son talent Cody Walker and academy graduate Dougie Cochrane.

The AFL announced sweeping changes to draft rules on Wednesday, designed to make clubs pay a “fairer” price for high-end talent.

The changes mean clubs can only use two picks in the draft to match a bid placed on a priority access player, up to and including pick 36. In recent national drafts, clubs have been able to use a collection of lower picks to match bids, even if those bids came in the first 10 selections.

It means the Blues – based on current ladder position – would need to use their picks three and 27 or earlier to match a bid made before their selection to obtain Walker.

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Previously, clubs accessed high-end talent such as Collingwood’s Nick Daicos, the Western Bulldogs’ Sam Darcy, the Brisbane Lions’ Will Ashcroft and Gold Coast’s Zeke Uwland by stockpiling later picks to match an early bid.

Clubs will be allowed to go into deficit of 412 draft value index points if they cannot match the bid with two selections. The AFL said it would be impossible for a club to land four players rated in the first round through matching bids, as Gold Coast did in the 2023 national draft. The AFL believes the Suns would have been able to add a maximum of two of their four academy graduates chosen in the first round that year – Jed Walter, Ethan Read, Jake Rogers and Will Graham – under the new rules.

The AFL rejected lobbying from the Blues, Port Adelaide and Essendon (who hope to land Darren Bewick’s son Koby in the 2027 national draft) to delay the rule changes until after Tasmania entered the competition in 2028.

Greg Swann, the league’s head of football performance, said that although the detail had not been finalised until now, the likelihood of changes had been flagged at a CEOs meeting in July last year.

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“We ended up coming to the conclusion there is never a good time [to make the change],” Swann said.

There will be no change to free agency compensation after the AFL Players’ Association rejected an AFL attempt to keep the top 10 selections free of compensation picks awarded to clubs who lose a free agent.

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It means Port Adelaide could still receive a pick inside the top 10 if star midfielder Zak Butters decides to leave, and they miss finals, making their decision on whether to match a bid to force a trade more complicated.

Approval was needed from the PA to change it as the compensation rules are part of the collective bargaining agreement.

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The players’ association told the league the proposed change to first-round compensation would negatively impact player movement as well as competitive balance.

Under other changes, a loading has been placed on top-four clubs – 20 per cent for the grand finalists, and 10 per cent for third and fourth – in their pursuit of high-end talent the next year at the draft, while clubs that finished 11th-18th will have a 10 per cent discount.

Bottom-five clubs that have their first-round pick slide back one or more spot due to a matched bid within the top five picks – as occurred with Richmond last season when they started the draft with pick two but had their first selection at No.7 – will now receive a compensation pick in the second round.

The AFL hopes that will assist help struggling clubs rebuild faster.

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If a club chooses to trade out its top five pick, it will not receive a compensation pick, nor will the club that finished outside the bottom five receive compensation if its pick slides back.

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Peter Ryan is a sports reporter with The Age.Connect via X or email.

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