AFL
1 year ago
“These things make or break clubs”: Lyon frustrated with AFL's rule tweak that cost Melbourne enormously
By Nic Negrepontis
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Garry Lyon has expressed his frustration with the AFL’s decision to undo the changes they made to the Next Generation Academy rules.
After the Bulldogs landed the best prospect in the 2020 National Draft Jamarra Ugle-Hagan through the Academy rules, the AFL changed it so teams could no longer bid on players in the top 40 of the draft.
This was an enormous blow for Melbourne a year later, unable to select their Next Generation Academy prospect in Mac Andrew, who landed at the Suns with pick five.
Andrew has emerged as a superstar key position player of the future, breaking out as a key defender in 2024, while also kicking four goals to win the game for Gold Coast against Essendon last weekend.
Lyon believes Andrew is the perfect player to fill Melbourne’s key position and young talent voids and cannot believe the AFL has now decided to allow clubs to take their Academy players once again from 2024 onwards.
“If Melbourne put all the data of the last two years of results into a machine and looked at where their deficiencies are, what they need most, the fact that they need more size with Max Gawn coming towards the end and getting rid of Brodie Grundy,” the Melbourne great told SEN Breakfast.
“If they put in all that data about the Dees over the last few years it would spit out one name of the player that they needed – Mac Andrew.
“And they had him as an Academy player. It would be like Jamarra Ugle-Hagan just ripped off them and just saying ‘no, I know he’s you’re player, but you’re not having him’.
“And then you know what would be worse? Saying two years later ‘listen, we’re changing the rules back’.
“So if you think I’m bitter about it, 100 per cent I am.
“He is the number one prototype player that Melbourne needed more than anything else and they had him! And the AFL in their infinite wisdom changed the rules and then in their MORE infinite wisdom they’ve changed them back again.
“That is disgraceful. These things make or break clubs.”
St Kilda with 2022 top 10 pick Cam Mackenzie and Fremantle with small forward Jesse Motlop are other examples of teams missing out on their Academy prospects during this window.
Essendon looks set to be the big beneficiary of the rule changing back, as they will be able to select small forward and likely first-round pick Isaac Kako in this year’s National Draft.
