Priority draft pick
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The Priority draft pick is a term used in the Australian Football League's AFL Draft.
[edit] History
At the conclusion of the AFL season, selections in all three drafts (the National Draft, Pre-Season Draft and Rookie Draft) are taken in the reverse order of final ladder placings. The selections are arranged into "rounds," with each team having one selection per round. Selections are taken in reverse-ladder position order to help the poorer-performing teams.
In the early 1990s, the AFL decided to provide extra help to teams performing consistently worse than others - the Sydney Swans, who finished last in 1992, 1993 and 1994 are a key example. To provide this help, the "Priority Round" was introduced into the National Draft. The Priority Round was positioned at the beginning of the draft, before the First Round.
Teams would gain a selection in the Priority Round only if they finished the season with fewer than 20.5 premiership points (wins are worth four points, draws are worth two points). Selections in the Priority Round would again be arranged in the reverse order of ladder position.
[edit] Rule Changes
In the early 2000s, it became apparent that a quality team could have an isolated bad season through injury, and finish with five wins, earning a priority pick. This was deemed to be unfair, since the initial reason for the picks was to help consistently poor teams to rebuild. As a consequence, several changes were made to the rules in 2006:
- The Priority Round was shifted, so that it was held between the First and Second rounds of the draft; this way, an isolated poor season would not be so richly rewarded.
- Teams would receive a Priority Selection only if they finished the season with fewer than 16.5 premiership points; this way, fewer isolated poor seasons would fall into the priority category.
- If a team finished with fewer than 16.5 premiership points in two consecutive seasons, then their Priority Selection is taken before the First Round, rather than after it; this way, consistently poor teams are still given the help that they need.
[edit] Tanking
With the AFL defining a numerical cut-off point for the priority pick, there is annual speculation that teams deliberately lose games to retain the extra selection, referred to as "tanking." There is no real proof that this is occurring: in particular, teams who have won only two or three of their first twenty games cannot be expected to win their last two, so their lack of performance is hardly evidence of tanking. Media commentators point to the trialling of young players and the resting of champions with niggling injuries as proof of tanking, while others point out that these practices make perfect sense for a team with nothing to play for.
Despite there being no proof of its existence, commentators annually devise radical plans to eliminate tanking from the end of the season. By shifting the Priority Round from before to after the First Round, the AFL has reduced, but not eliminated, the incentive to tank.
