Kane Cornes is calling for the AFL to increase the minimum contract length for first round picks.
The Port Adelaide great’s comments were sparked by GWS’ Tanner Bruhn, with the out-of-contract midfielder receiving interest from Hawthorn, North Melbourne and Geelong.
After being drafted with pick 12 by the Giants, Bruhn has only spent two years with the club, and now looks like the latest in a long line of players to depart their first club as soon as possible.
With this becoming increasingly more common, Cornes is calling for the AFL to change the rules to prevent young players from leaving their draft clubs.
“Two year contract, this comes up at trade period all the time but the AFL have to do something about having longer than two year contracts for first-round draft picks,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“The Giants are saying ‘well we don’t even know if Tanner Bruhn can play and we’re going to lose him after two years,’ how is that helping with the equalisation model?”
Considering the number of players leaving clubs after their first contract, Cornes wants the minimum length for first round picks to double
“They must have the option to sign players for at least four years if you are a first round draft pick,” he said.
“We saw Gunston walk out of Adelaide after two years, we’ve seen (Jackson) Hateley do it the same at the Giants, we’ve now seen Tanner Bruhn do it after two years.”
With Bruhn joining other big name Giants such as Tim Taranto and Jacob Hopper on the way out of the club, GWS is set to receive plenty of draft compensation, however Cornes doesn’t expect it to be a fair exchange.
“He’s going to go, they’ve got pick three as it stands, they’re going to get two first round draft picks from Richmond and perhaps another first round draft pick for Bruhn,” he said.
“They’re going to be loaded in the draft, but they’ve been loaded before.”
With multiple players looking to head elsewhere over the coming trade period, the Giants list is expected to look very different next season.