WE ARE in the time of compromised drafts. For years we have known that the Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney would be entering the competition.

We all prayed that our team would be at the top of its game when this period hit as the fledgling clubs were going to control the migration north of all Australia's best young footballing talent.

It was not a time to either bottom out or start a rebuilding platform. There was great nervousness in the air.

Through the AFL's new rules for Greater Western Sydney, this has all changed and a window has opened for any club to pick up one of the best four 16-year-olds anywhere throughout Australia.

What an opportunity and how exciting it will be if your club chooses to negotiate and get its hands on the next Chris Judd or Nick Riewoldt. The last time this rule was in place Essendon traded senior players to get its hands on Matthew Lloyd.

There are very few opportunities in the current system for an AFL club to pick up a "franchise" player, so list management teams will be strategising about the value of these youngsters and whether they are prepared to pay a heavy price to lure their bait.

So how does this system work? Greater Western Sydney has been gifted the opportunity to hand over the four best young talented players. These boys must turn 17 in the first four months of next year to be eligible. This rule is an addition to what was available to Gold Coast.

The GWS football division only negotiates the best deal for themselves and at no stage chooses the player. An example of this might be that St Kilda wants a young key forward to replace its captain Nick Riewoldt in the future. The Saints convince GWS to hand over this young gun for two established St Kilda players and they get their man. This would mean that there would now only be three more young guns up for negotiation for the other AFL clubs.

It is obvious that GWS will play hardball to access the best established footballers available when negotiating with AFL clubs. The new Giants outfit has a two-year window to complete the four trades.

A club such as St Kilda or Geelong may very well make a decision that they are coming to the end of an era with its current group and need to fast track its next generation of stars by negotiating  for one of these youngsters. In Geelong's case, it would probably need to be brave enough to release one or several of their past premiership players to entice the GWS franchise to hand over the selection.

Another fascinating twist to this new ruling can be found in the father-son selections of Joe Daniher to Essendon and Jack Viney to Melbourne.
 
Both of these boys fall into the age bracket for this ruling. Their fathers' clubs have already nominated that they will select these boys, allowing them to access the teenagers for body development etc prior to drafting.

They cannot be lost to either Essendon or Melbourne but both clubs have a choice of waiting to the draft and most likely having their first-round selection taken to access the father-son selection or trading with GWS.

In Melbourne's case, it may trade out one or two senior players to secure Viney, which would also maintain its first-round pick in the NAB AFL Draft. 

In either scenario, these two clubs get their man. It's just whether they value the first-round selection which, in Essendon's case, has delivered players such as Michael Hurley and Paddy Ryder, or whether it is better to trade out a couple of solid citizens to get the same result

The list management of AFL clubs is critical to the future success of each team. Imagination and initiative are going to be critical in decisions such as this and the approaching free agency market.

Clubs will need to be extremely well organised and have a clear direction of where they see themselves in the short-, mid- and long-term future. Calculated, brave decisions will give your team more chance of premiership success while ill-informed decisions or a conservative approach could well see your club lingering as a future cellar dweller.

The views in the story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL