Fremantle Dockers want major changes to AFL draft and it could cost West Coast Eagles pick two for Oscar Allen

West Coast will be banned from receiving pick two as free agency compensation for departing captain Oscar Allen if the AFL accepts a draft proposal from Fremantle this season. The Dockers are pushing for immediate draft reform and want the AFL to ban first round free agency compensation, make the entire first round uncompromised plus introduce a cap on the number of draft concessions clubs can use. Multiple clubs are already campaigning for Father-Son and Academy restrictions in the first round, but adding a ban on free agency compensation would transform the AFL. Clubs currently receive a compensation pick immediately after their first round selection if they lose a highly paid free agent. West Coast is tipped to receive pick two for Allen this year. But if Fremantle’s proposal to have an uncompromised first round is accepted, the Eagles would get pick 19 for their co-captain. “We’re advocating for some effective, immediate change, which I think should be, firstly, no concessions be available in the first round of the draft,” Dockers president Chris Sutherland told The West Australian. “Under that model, first round compensation picks for a free agency player would then be given at the end of the first round. And then my other point would be, additionally, a top-eight team should have a cap of only one concessional pick per draft. And then teams that finish outside the top eight, they can have two or maybe three. “All 18 clubs are (then) guaranteed to get their first pick in the reverse order of finish on the ladder. I think under that model, a club with a likely first round elite Academy, or father some prospect, have got a very good opportunity due to the close relationship that developed, but they’d just have to trade up to get them.” This year’s draft is already set to be heavily compromised with Gold Coast and Brisbane set to benefit from multiple Academy players being among the most talented players in the country. Fremantle will almost certainly enter their elimination final against the Suns without any father-son or Academy players in their team. Sutherland said if the AFL can’t change the rules for this season, they should swiftly announce draft reforms for 2026. He said the current draft system was jeopardising the fabric of the league. “Over the last four or five years, I think the draft has moved further and further away from being a key equalisation measure. I think it’d be fair to say that currently, as an equalisation manager, the draft really has no credibility at all,” Sutherland said. “It cannot be right that teams at the bottom of the ladder cannot access the very best talent, you know, due to the myriad of concessions granted to well performing teams, including premiership winning teams. “It can’t be fair in a professional sports league that the top teams, rather than bottom teams, are accessing some of the best players in the draft due purely to a coincidence of birth, like a mother born overseas, or your father played for the club, or you live in a particular zone. “I think we’re all aware the premiership team last year were able to pick a top five player in last year’s draft, and they’ll be able to do it again this year as well. And I think there can be really no justification for that.”