The AFL draft: the manufacture of hope

[watt price tully]

Albeit far too brief this article (briefly) captures what the draft has become.

"It's selling hope, and people just munch it up..."

and the reality of what it could mean for teenage talent:

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-juggernaut-caught-up-in-the-draft-tornado-20141129-11wl8w.html

[swoop42]

It's funny I was thinking the other day what percentage of Collingwood members/supporters would take such a keen interest in the draft like the majority of us on here do?

Sites like Nick's obviously attract Collingwood hardcore as I like to term us but don't necessarily represent the majority of followers.

I've always been interested in the draft from the days it was shown on channel 7 and would regularly purchase multiple papers the day after to get the different takes on the players we took and how our performance was rated.

I've been interested in it for a long time but it's safe to say that interest has grown by each year to the point of near obsession once the football season has actually finished.

People love there footy and the draft represents hope of a brighter future or sustained on field success.

[Dave The Man]

Well with the Draft it easy to have hope.

As all you hear from the Club after the Draft they all say how good there Draftee�s are

[Kwah-LeBaire]

The Draft is like playing the stock market: it's all about spotting potential and investing in it early, so as to be around for the big paydays when they arrive.

And like with the stock market, there are no guarantees and more losers than winners. That's just how it is, so no whining.

The Club has made our bets for us, now we hang on and hope. Time will tell.

[regan is true fullback]

what happens on the 30th September/5th October?

The season ends. If it's a joyous occasion like 2010, we can party all the way until Christmas.

If not we are forced to face reality - the HSC, Uni exams, the beginning of the most stressful time at work of the year.

40 years ago we had giants like Chappel and Lilllee to inspire our summer, and pantomime villains like John Snow and Boycott.

Now cricket seems to have shrunk, every time you turn it on there's an ad, and Ritchie is now doing cross promotion. English soccer is only available on Foxtel, with too many matches at inconvenient times.

So we turn to football, even though it's finished.

[John Wren]

[Jezza]

I don't know whether making the AFL Draft a big event is necessarily a positive thing. Sure we all get excited about the fact that new kids will be joining the club and could turn out to be superstars or solid players for us in the future, but doesn't it make the actual season seem more anti-climatic as opposed to years ago when the actual season was the pinnacle of everything and we cherished those weeks when it was on, and when it was gone we were devastated until it returned the following year in late March to early April. Now that sense of devastation and wait over the off-season no longer exists and therefore the return of football can be somewhat dull and anti-climatic in that respect.

Maybe I'm being old-fashioned about it but I sometimes think the extensive media attention during the trade and draft period can really undermine the AFL season/finals and make it very anti-climatic especially if your team is already eliminated from the competition towards the end of the season. I hope when we win our next flag that we don't celebrate hard for just two days and then as supporters forget it and worry but the draft and trade but we celebrate for weeks on end and constantly reaffirm that we're the champions and no one can stop us at the present time! I felt that in 2010 but I feel like the season has been anti-climatic in the last two or three years but maybe Hawthorn winning back to back it has made it feel anti-climatic in my mind possibly.