PORT ADELAIDE enters day two of the NAB AFL Draft armed with four picks, having already snapped up Josh Sinn with Pick 12 last night after trading up the draft order to secure the running defender.

However, the Power’s latest recruits are unlikely to hear their names called with any of that quartet of selections – picks 55, 65, 67 and 80 – with a bid on father-son prospect Jase Burgoyne expected to fall between rounds two and three.

Why does this matter? Let’s look at the AFL draft bidding system and how it could impact Port’s recruiters this evening.

The AFL introduced the Draft Value Index after Sydney was able to snare gun academy prospect Isaac Heeney for an absolute bargain at Pick 18 in 2014.

The system assigns every pick in the draft a points value – Pick 1 is worth 3000 points and this value steadily declines until Pick 73, which is worth nine points. Picks from 74 onwards hold no value on the index.

Clubs can then ‘spend’ the value of their future picks by forfeiting those selection in order to match bids from other clubs on father-son and academy talents.

For example, if a bid from a rival club comes for Jase Burgoyne at Pick 40, the Power will need to find 429 points to match it and ensure Burgoyne is at Port Adelaide next season. If Port successfully matches the bid, Burgoyne heads to Alberton with Pick 40 and the rival’s pick is shuffled back one in the draft order.

If the club’s current picks cannot muster the value to match, Port can either trade back into the 2021 draft by sending away a future pick and using the points value of the pick it receives back or it can go into a points deficit, which means the remaining points will be deducted from the value of a future pick and push it down the draft order in 2022.

Port was able to use this system to its advantage in 2019 to secure father-son prospect Jackson Mead (matching a bid by Sydney at Pick 25) and again in 2020 to select Next Generation Academy member Lachie Jones (match a bid at Pick 16 from Collingwood).

The bidding system has already played havoc with the draft order, with the Western Bulldogs matching Greater Western Sydney's bid at Pick 2 for father-son Sam Darcy, followed not long after by Collingwood matching a bid at Pick 4 for its own son-of-a-gun Nick Daicos from Gold Coast.

The good news is Port’s recruiters hold the upper hand to ensure the Burgoyne name continues at Alberton. Now all that is left to do is wait and see where the bid falls.

Round two onwards of the NAB AFL Draft gets underway from 6:30pm (ACDT) tonight.