The 2015 AFL draft was held on Tuesday in Adelaide, with a total of 69 players realising their dream of reaching the elite level. It was not only a big day for the players, but for the agents as well. They had been working mercilessly behind the scenes to get their players in the minds of the clubs.
Jacob Weitering was touted to take the top spot all year. Everything went according to script, with Carlton landing him with the no.1 pick. He was signed very early on by super agent Liam Pickering of Precision Sports. The relatively new outfit was created in 2014 by Pickering after leaving his post at Strategic Management.
The Top 10 was made up of all the major players in the industry, and is listed below:
Pick | Player | Agency |
1 | Jacob Weitering | Precision Sports |
2 | Josh Schache | McDonald Sports |
3 | Callum Mills | Stride Sports Management |
4 | Clayton Oliver | Elite Sports Properties |
5 | Darcy Parish | Phoenix |
6 | Aaron Francis | Elite Sports Properties |
7 | Jacob Hopper | Connors Sports Management |
8 | Callum Ah Chee | Players Ink |
9 | Sam Weideman | Players Ink |
10 | Harry McKay | McDonald Sports |
To determine which agency performed the best in this year’s draft I have developed a points system based on the drafted player’s position. With 69 players drafted, I awarded 69 points to the agency who manages the no.1 pick, then decreased points by 1 until pick 69, who receives 1 point.
I have also looked at how the agencies fared in comparison to last year’s draft. There were less selections this year compared to last (69 vs. 87), so I have scaled last year’s agency scores accordingly, to 79.3%.
Here are the results:
Agency | Points | Draftees | 2014 Score (Scaled) | Change | Change (%) | |
1 | McDonald Sports | 422 | 9 | 322 | 100 | 31.06% |
2 | Elite Sports Properties | 377 | 11 | 497 | -120 | -24.14% |
3 | Stride Sports Management | 366 | 9 | 436 | -70 | -16.06% |
4 | Phoenix | 229 | 6 | 224 | 5 | 2.23% |
5 | Connors Sports Management | 226 | 6 | 340 | -114 | -33.53% |
6 | Players Ink | 182 | 5 | 189 | -7 | -3.70% |
7 | Precision Sports | 114 | 2 | 58 | 56 | 96.55% |
As you can see by the table above, McDonald Sports had a very successful draft. Not only did they land the top prize, but they had a 31.06% better result than last year. They had a total of 9 players drafted this year, up from 8 last year.
Elite Sports Properties dropped a spot from the top last year, but still pulled in a solid draft, with 11 names being called. They are the largest representatives of AFL talent with the most agents, so this comes as no surprise.