Western Bulldogs AFLW coach Nathan Burke has weighed in on the competition’s new trade rules, saying his club did not get any forewarning from the league.
The league announced the plans for this year’s sign and trade period earlier in the week, giving the four most recent expansion sides unprecedented power to sign players who have been around for more than three seasons and do so without needing to complete a trade.
Compensation hasn’t even been confirmed as of yet for the teams that lose these players for nothing.
Burke said he and the Bulldogs, an inaugural AFLW club, were not consulted on the changes.
“No, we don’t get any heads up from the AFL on pretty much anything. It dropped yesterday afternoon in the inbox and it was a mad scramble (to try and work out) all the different clauses and things that came through,” Burke told SEN’s The Run Home.
“I think we’ve got our head around it now and it is what it is.”
Burke believes this decision, after a previous year of expansion teams pilfering clubs, could set existing sides back further.
“I understand the need to give the expansion teams some assistance, although I think they performed better than most people were thinking, I understand the need to make a healthy and vibrant competition where every team is viable, I understand all of that,” the St Kilda great said.
“But then you can’t help thinking that we’ve just been through one big expansion. Our club has always been pretty hard hit by expansion and we were looking forward to a bit of a free run. Let everyone stand on their merits and away we go.
“All that has probably been pushed back a year and even the draft that’s going to happen at the end of the year, that will be compromised as well.
“Whilst we were looking for a bit of a free run and letting everyone stand on their own two feet, it hasn’t happened.
“I do understand the requirements of the league to make this as competitive a league as they possibly can, it’s just unfortunate that we’re caught up in it.”
Subscribe to the SEN YouTube channel for the latest videos!
Burke does not believe the rule change is fair, but says that is simply the nature of the competition.
“I learnt a long time ago, having been in AFL football for over 30 years, that fairness that doesn’t always come into play,” Burke added.
“It used to do my head in to be totally honest. The AFL men’s, you don’t play everyone twice. The travel, the salary caps, the funding, all of that, there is no such thing as fairness in AFL football so I don’t know why I expected to jump into AFLW and expect fairness to be in there.
“So no, it’s not fair, but that is the landscape. It’s not new to AFL football. It’s been going on forever and a day.
“I think they’re doing it for the right reasons, but if you want pure fairness don’t be a part of the AFL.”
Burke remains confident the Bulldogs will keep their established players.
“Naturally there is a concern, but I’m really buoyed by what we’ve built here and the culture that we’ve got here and the type of players we’ve gathered over the last four or five seasons,” he said.
“Once you sort of get over the initial shock and fear and you look at things in the cool light of day, I’m pretty confident what we’ve built will stand the test of time and we’ll hold out against the advances from the other clubs.
“I’m pretty confident with that now. That’s all we can do. We have to make our club the best it can be so that when these overtures come their way, they don’t want to leave anymore and that’s what we can control and that’s where we’re going to turn our attention.”
Port Adelaide and Hawthorn have been granted the ability to sign three players under this new method, while Essendon can add two.
The Sydney Swans, however, have the power to add five players if they can.