Priority draft pick

The Priority draft pick is a term used in the Australian Football League's AFL Draft.

Brief outline of the AFL Draft

At the conclusion of the AFL season, selections in all three AFL 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 usually taken in reverse-ladder position order to help the poorer-performing teams.

Priority Round

In 1993, the AFL decided to provide extra help to teams performing consistently worse than others; the Sydney Swans, who finished last in 1992-1994, are a key example. To provide this help, the "Priority Round" was introduced into the National Draft.

The Priority Round is at the beginning of the draft, before the First Round. Teams will gain a selection in the Priority Round if they finish the season with fewer than 20.5 premiership points (wins are worth four points, draws are worth two points).

Selections in the Priority Round are arranged in the reverse order of ladder position with the following exceptions:

• Any new teams receive the first draft pick in the year before they compete for the first time: as such, Fremantle were given the first draft pick in 1994, while the Gold Coast will receive the first draft pick in 2010, and West Sydney will receive the first draft pick in 2011.
• Fremantle were also given the first draft pick in 1995 as part of an agreement after the team were admitted to the AFL.
• West Coast were given the first draft pick in 1996 in a ballot, as the team that finished last, Fitzroy, folded at the end of round 22.
• Fremantle traded their first draft pick to Hawthorn in 2001. This allowed the Hawks to pick up Luke Hodge in that year's AFL Draft and trade away Trent Croad to the Dockers, only for Croad to return to Hawthorn and play in their premiership winning side in 2008.
• Carlton lost their priority picks and their first and second round picks in 2002 for gross salary cap breaches; St. Kilda, who had finished 15th of 16, received the first draft pick and selected Brendon Goddard. This prevented Carlton from rebuilding their team and they spent the next seven years near or at the bottom of the ladder (also see List of sporting scandals).

Rule Changes

In the early 2000s, it became apparent that a team with reasonable prospects could have an isolated poor season through injuries or other off-field trouble and finish with five wins, thus 'inappropriately' earning a player-list boosting priority draft pick. This was deemed to be unfair, as the initial raison d'etre of the priority picks was solely to help consistently poor teams to rebuild.

As a consequence, three 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.
• Teams would receive a Priority Selection if they finished the season with fewer than 16.5 premiership points.
• If a team finished with fewer than 16.5 premiership points for two consecutive seasons, then their Priority Selection would be taken before the First Round.

Tanking allegations

As the AFL defines a numerical cut-off point for the priority pick, there is annual speculation that teams deliberately lose games to retain a priority pick; this is referred to as "tanking." This is difficult to prove, as 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, but if a team is well out of finals contention and on 16 points (4 wins), there may be a temptation to avoid a further wins.

Media commentators point to the trialling of young players and the resting of champions with niggling injuries as an indication of subtle tanking, but others point out that these practices make perfect sense for a team with nothing to play for, and that tanking also carries a fine of up to $100,000 and/or a lifetime suspension for each offence; this not yet been implemented. By shifting the Priority Round from before to after the First Round, the AFL has reduced, but not eliminated, the incentive to tank. Some members of the media have called for a draft lottery, but Andrew Demetriou has stated that there will be no change to the priority system at this point in time.

Whether or not players or clubs are involved in throwing games, there are problems caused by both the perception that the practice occurs, and the desire of fans to see their teams engage in the practice when the opportunity arises. The latter was most prevalent in the final round of 2007, when Melbourne and Carlton met in a game where the victor would lose the priority draft pick, while the loser would retain it. Many fans at this game openly supported against their own teams.