The hype around this year’s draft is ramping up with the movement of picks set to begin soon, but next year’s could be a different story entirely.
According to AFL Media's Cal Twomey, as well as being a weaker class compared to this year’s, the 2020 National Draft could be the most compromised since the expansion teams entered the competition.
“There’s a few question marks on the quality of next year’s draft, that’s for sure,” Twomey said on Trade Mornings.
“We saw the futures game on Grand Final day last week and there were some quality players out there.
“The thing to remember as well is that it looks like being the most compromised draft pool in draft history.
“The Next Generation Academy is really coming to fruition; a lot of father-sons are available next year as well as the northern academy.
“In the game last week there was 48 players and 17 of them were already tied to clubs.
“There’s some quality players there as there always will be, but I’d say in terms of the last couple of years, next year does look like the weakest we’ve seen in a couple of seasons.”
Twomey said he expects to see a number of clubs offering up draft picks for next year in trades, but due to a lack of clarity around the draft, clubs would be reluctant to accept them.