COLLINGWOOD and Greater Western Sydney are united in their view that Melbourne does not deserve a priority pick.
With the Demons mired in another dreadful season, sitting second bottom on the ladder with a 4-16 record, they have officially contacted the AFL to request a priority pick in the upcoming NAB AFL Draft.
But it has been met with some stern resistance from across the AFL, with the Magpies and Giants joining the chorus of opposition to the proposal on Friday.
"In relation to the priority pick, I think the AFL Commission has got it right that it's there for extraordinary circumstances," GWS chief executive Dave Matthews told a function in Sydney on Friday.
"Personally, I don't see Melbourne in an extraordinary circumstance.
"You've got 18 teams in the competition. Someone's going to finish 18th, 17th, 16th … I don't think their problem has been access to young talent.
"In fact they've probably had more access to young talent than most clubs over the last 10 years.
"I think the important point that people miss sometimes is there are cycles you go through.
"St Kilda is at the bottom at the moment, but probably had eight-to-10 years when they were right in contention.
"That's what the system is designed to do.
"You have outliers like Geelong who for some reason defy gravity, and then you have outliers like Melbourne who haven't been able to get up.
"That's just the way the competition is.
"It's a 150-year-old competition and two new clubs (GWS and Gold Coast) have had to build out of basically three drafts.
"It's not a major disruption, but I think what Gary and the other CEOs want now is to see the draft return to normal, and I don't see any need for a priority pick at this stage."
Pert, who was a guest speaker at Friday's lunch ahead of the round 22 match between the Pies and Giants at Spotless Stadium, also had strong views on the matter.
The Collingwood chief executive used the Sydney Swans' ability to sign Lance Franklin to that nine-year deal as an example of how there are still flaws in the system.
And he felt Melbourne getting a priority pick would only add to those flaws.
"We would like, as soon as possible, to get (the draft) back to its purest form," Pert said.
"We think if we were to have the pure system, that pure system would look like, for example, the Swans don't have the (salary cap) space to take someone like a Buddy Franklin. Buddy Franklin (instead) ends up at a GWS.
"We would say that Melbourne doesn't deserve another pick, because then where does it stop?
"We just want, as quickly as possible, to bring all the basics back to the levels that we were all sold on and all the AFL clubs accepted."
