AFL clubs are poised to make a joint submission to the league over the handling of the mid-season draft after a late scramble over a draftee’s heart condition.
A handful of clubs were last night sent into panic mode only two hours before the rookie draft when they were told ruckman Ned Moyle had a heart issue.
Moyle, a 204cm ruckman from the Oakleigh Chargers who was eventually taken by Gold Coast at pick 5, was put through as many as six medicals by interested clubs.
But one of those screenings last week revealed a heart murmur, with Moyle referred to the AFL for a follow-up test.
Moyle passed that test and further examination showed the teenager didn’t have an underlying heart problem. But the clubs were rattled when they were sent an email from the AFL only two hours before the draft detailing the heart scare.
Prospects for the end-of-year national draft take part in a central medical screening process conducted by the AFL, with those results sent around the competition.
But a club source said the AFL “wiped their hands” with that process for the mid-season draft, citing a lack of resources and cost.
Clubs operating with reduced staff and navigating Covid complications in the middle of the season were made to conduct their own screenings.
It meant players like Moyle were made to undergo as many as half a dozen medicals instead of one. It was the latest sore point for the clubs, who were already unhappy with the medical and nomination process, the latter highlighted by Jai Newcombe’s unique contract terms.
Moyle’s heart murmur is not why he “slipped” in the draft. Once Hawthorn chose Newcombe at pick 2 – under pressure from rivals threatening to swoop - Moyle was always headed to the Suns at pick 5.