‘It’s rubbish’: Saints boss Andrew Bassat slams ‘nonsense’ draft move in fiery public rant.
St Kilda president Andrew Bassat criticized the AFL’s draft method, citing disparity among the league’s 18 teams.
Bassat, who is also the co-founder of the employment marketplace website Seek, criticized how the draft unfairly handles father-son and academy choices at discounted prices, calling the existing method “absolute nonsense”.
During his speech at the Saints’ Trevor Barker Award, Bassat expressed his club’s dissatisfaction with the bidding method, stating that it advantages certain organizations.
“The system is designed to favour the wealthier clubs and it’s designed to favour the northern clubs, and our role is meant to be just to make up the numbers and not complain about it.”
After being robbed of talent, Bassat pledged that the club would no longer accept a terrible deal and would fight for change.
“In terms of what we are doing about it, it’s fair to say our club is sick and tired of meekly accepting this — it’s rubbish — and we are absolutely committed as a club, relentlessly, to ensure that we are given a fairer opportunity for success,” he stated amid ovations from the audience.
“We’ve made some improvement this year. We have led the effort to guarantee that a more equitable price is paid for father-son and academy [picks]. Unfortunately, the AFL, in its wisdom, decided to implement the adjustments next year.”
In reaction to footage of Bassat’s outburst going viral, it appears that it is not just St Kilda fans who are unhappy of the selection, with Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes commenting on one post: “He’s spot on”.
In August, the AFL announced modifications to its points bidding system that will affect the draft, trades, and free agency. However, this will not take effect until 2025.
The Saints claim that the draft value index (DVI), which determines the draft pick and associated points value needed to obtain connected talent, is unjust.
They argue that establishing state-based talent academies in New South Wales and Queensland undermines the draft’s level playing field.
Because the forthcoming trade period and national draft will continue under the present setup, premiers Brisbane will be able to get highly regarded teenager Levi Ashcroft early as a father-son selection.
Ashcroft, the son of club great Marcus and brother of reigning Norm Smith Medalist Will, would have been a top choice if he had been available on the open market.
However, after agreeing to join Brisbane as a father-son pairing, the Lions will receive a 20% discount on any offer for Ashcroft and will be able to choose him using back-end choices.
As it stands, the Lions have just selections 18, 56, and 69 in this year’s draft, totaling 1228 draft points.
If the rule changes had taken effect this year, the Lions may have had to transfer a player on their roster to gain enough points to match an offer.
“I had a great time after half time when it was pretty clear that Brisbane was going to win,” Bassat informed the crowd.
“Every single commissioner I found, the conversation went like this: ‘I have a terrific proposal. How about giving the top player in the draft to Brisbane this year? And then I would start walking away, saying, ‘Aw, don’t charge them for that’.
“The system is total crap. We will fight this struggle until my last day as president, and maybe beyond. We will battle this and, hopefully, achieve progress since justice is on our side.
Since father-son picks were instituted 38 years ago, the Saints have had only three, while the Lions have had seven since 1999.
The AFL trading period begins on Monday.
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