How the GAA can level the playing field

In Australia today, the AFL stage their annual national draft. It is the major plank of their equalisation strategy to make the Premiership as fair as possible.

Tue, 24 Nov, 2015 - 00:00

John Fogarty

John Fogarty is the Irish Examiner’s GAA correspondent, with unique insights into the action on the pitch and in the Gaelic games’ corridors of power.

The draft works on a similar premise to that in the NFL: the worst performing teams in the previous year’s competition are given the priority picks among the best up-and-coming players. The poor get a little richer, the richer a little poorer. It doesn’t warp the market – Hawthorn won their third consecutive title this year – but it helps to even things up slightly.

The Great Western Sydney Giants club, where former Cavan footballer Nicholas Walsh works in their strength and conditioning department, was established as a new AFL franchise in 2012. Finishing bottom of the AFL ladder in ’12 and ’13, they were handed first choices in the draft. In 2014, they finished third from bottom. This past season, they jumped to 11th.