Mitchell\u2019s reveal on out-of-form youngster; Cats\u2019 triple boost in selection hint<\/a><\/p>\nGold Coast and Brisbane have in past years repeatedly made shrewd deals to gather plenty of later picks to ensure their plethora of academy and father-son talent end up at the club. <\/p>\n
But Ralph reports the clubland belief that this year\u2019s changes will mean that if a side wants to match a rival bid in the first round, it will only be able to use the points from two picks which must fall in the same round.<\/p>\n
Last year, the league tweaked the draft value index and downgraded the discount for matching an NGA or father-son bid from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. <\/p>\n
The Blues are looking to cement father-son prospect Cody Walker\u2019s arrival this November, while the Power have priority NGA access to Dougie Cochrane. Both are projected to attract early rival bids as likely top-three picks. <\/p>\n
Carlton holds its own first-rounder as well as Sydney\u2019s, as a result of last October\u2019s blockbuster Charlie Curnow trade, which sent three firsts and Will Hayward the Blues\u2019 way.<\/p>\n
It means they\u2019re in a position to match a contending bid for Walker, with two second-rounders also in hand. <\/p>\n
Port Adelaide, meanwhile, only has one first-rounder at present but holds two seconds, with the one coming via last year\u2019s Ben Ainsworth-Corey Durdin trade. <\/p>\n
Packaging its seconds to move back into the first-round order could be an avenue to matching for Cochrane \u2014 though it\u2019ll be a completely moot point if superstar free agent Zak Butters seeks a trade to Victoria and the Power, in turn, yielding several firsts. <\/p>\n
But debate will reign over whether such a pivotal change to the bidding system should be implemented so close to the first affected draft, with clubs planning their hands years in advance. <\/p>\n
Lions provide update on injured stars | 03:26<\/p>\n
EAGLES MAKE SSP MOVE<\/p>\n
West Coast has officially added to its list for the 2026 season, signing WAFL standout Milan Murdock ahead of the SSP deadline. <\/p>\n
Eagles recruiting boss Matt Clarke revealed the Eagles had been \u201ctracking\u201d the 25-year-old\u2019s progress \u201cclosely for several years\u201d, with Murdock averaging 27.4 disposals and 7.8 tackles for East Fremantle last season. <\/p>\n
West Coast opened up the list spot after small forward Noah Long was placed on the long-term inactive list after a season-ending knee injury. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust over the moon, absolutely,\u201d Murdock said in a club release on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt almost felt like the dream was close to being over. I was never going to give up anyway, but then \u2018Mini\u2019 (Andrew McQualter) just called me on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at work, and he just said: \u2018Look, mate, it\u2019s your last day on the tools, you\u2019re going to be wearing the blue and gold this year\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked just extremely hard the last 15 years, so for this to happen, it\u2019s just a massive relief.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now the hard work really starts as well, so I\u2019m just more eager than ever just to have a crack.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Eagles play Port Adelaide on Sunday in their final tune-up before their season proper begins against Gold Coast on March 15. <\/p>\n
“Petracca makes a huge difference” | 01:14<\/p>\n
RETURNING BLUES STAR SET FOR BAN<\/p>\n
Veteran half-backer Nic Newman has received a two-match ban for striking during a VFL practice match. <\/p>\n
In Carlton\u2019s reserves practice hitout against Geelong on Wednesday, Newman, who\u2019s plotting a senior return after his 2025 campaign was wiped out due to injury, was cited for a late spoil. <\/p>\n
The incident was graded as careless conduct, high contact and high impact, resulting in the two-game sanction. <\/p>\n
If accepted, Newman will miss his side\u2019s Opening Round and Round 1 clashes with Sydney and Richmond, respectively. <\/p>\n
And with the Blues on a bye in Round 2, it\u2019ll mean he wouldn\u2019t be able to put his hand up for a long-awaited senior return until Carlton\u2019s Round 3 bout with Melbourne on March 29. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clubs are reportedly preparing for a landmark change to the father-son and academy bidding system. Plus, a Blues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[24777,638,2095,64,63,689,55,639,254516,3239,1129,254518,1653,191484,254512,166599,169023,142520,2526,254511,1127,2105,2485,33693,681,254514,254489,49787,647,17986,2041,2067,677,6082,254513,126359,701,167646,6858,166610,254517,1124,85,2614,254515,660,4899,23510],"class_list":{"0":"post-506993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-aami-community","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-australian-football-league","15":"tag-australianfootballleague","16":"tag-cameron-bruce","17":"tag-carlton-blues","18":"tag-charlie-curnow","19":"tag-clubland-belief","20":"tag-cody-walker","21":"tag-draft-bidding","22":"tag-draft-bidding-change","23":"tag-draft-bidding-system","24":"tag-draft-value-index","25":"tag-father-son-bid","26":"tag-father-son-prospect","27":"tag-father-son-talent-end","28":"tag-fox-footy","29":"tag-getty-images-inc","30":"tag-gold-coast","31":"tag-james-wiltshire","32":"tag-jon-ralph","33":"tag-landmark-change","34":"tag-lions-set-tone","35":"tag-long-awaited-senior-return","36":"tag-melbourne","37":"tag-nic-newman","38":"tag-north-america","39":"tag-northern-america","40":"tag-oceania","41":"tag-port-adelaide","42":"tag-possible-trade-scramble","43":"tag-practice-match","44":"tag-queensland","45":"tag-requisite-draft-points","46":"tag-richmond","47":"tag-rival-bids","48":"tag-senior-return","49":"tag-south-australia","50":"tag-sports","51":"tag-united-states-of-america","52":"tag-veteran-half-backer","53":"tag-victoria","54":"tag-virginia","55":"tag-zak-butters"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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