Oscar Allen’s move to Brisbane could be the last instance where a draft pick as high as no.2 overall is awarded to the dealing team as compensation.
The Lions officially signed restricted free agent Allen on Wednesday night, with the Eagles confirmed to receive Pick 2 in return after electing not to match Brisbane’s offer.
And amid persistent skepticism over the AFL’s secret formula for determining compensation, the Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph reports on Wednesday night that the league is examining changes.
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“This could be the last one of these deals,” Ralph began on Fox Footy’s Trading Day, questioning whether Allen was worth the second overall pick.
“My understanding is the AFL will look at the free agency compensation, and over summer it might be that the best pick you can get for free agency compensation might be pick 5 or 10 or even the end of first round. I think that’s great.
“Oscar has only kicked 50 goals (in a season) once in his AFL career. Is it Joe Daniher 2.0? Eight years into his career, Joe, with injury issues, had only kicked 50 once himself (yet netted Essendon band one compensation).
“The West Coast picks — they’ve (now) got 1, 2, 12, 33, 37 and a couple in the 50s. They will get Deven Robertson, they’ve got a plan for him … and they will get Tylar Young.”
At the moment, the AFL’s compensation formula produces a points rating for players based on the new contract of the free agent, and the age of the free agent. Allen, 26, is set to lock in a six-year deal with Brisbane on a lucrative sum.
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Former Sydney champion and 1988 Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy said the Allen result was good for the Eagles but also questioned the Pick 2 outcome.
“That’s a good trade (of assets), as far as I’m concerned,” he told Fox Footy.
“You don’t have to turn over too many rocks to find somebody who says that there’s problems with his (Allen’s) knees. That wouldn’t be news to Brisbane, though, so they would have done their medical research on him.
“I think the biggest question is, is he worth Pick 2? Has the AFL got this right, that you’re handing over Pick 2 for a guy that hasn’t played great footy for a few years.
“I thought he was the best up-and-coming young forward in the competition … and he, in my view, is going to become the guy that led them (the Lions) to another flag … but Pick 2 — it’s a huge compensation.”
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Meanwhile, Western Bulldogs legend Brad Johnson suggested that West Coast, armed with another premium draft asset, could build a considerable portion of its list in one off-season — similar to that of Richmond last year.
“Do you think from West Coast’s point of view, though, now with Pick 1 and 2, they actually look at Pick 1 and go ‘do we offload that to another club, maybe a Bombers, for 4 and 5, for example, and then go into the draft with 2, 4, 5 and 12?’ and really build their list — similar to what Richmond did,” he floated on Trading Day.
Ralph said that was “potentially” an option but hinted at the weaker nature of this November’s intake compared to last year’s.
“I think the only thing that West Coast would say is there’s probably a top five or six players, and three or four of them are Academy picks,” he said.
“So, Cooper Duff-Tytler there and (Willem) Duursma (in the open draft). They’re two really exciting players.”