St Kilda coach Ross Lyon is aligned with former AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan's suggestion that the first round of the National Draft should be "pure", preventing father-son and academy selections to infiltrate the top-end talent.
In the wake of the wholesale draft changes that have been immediately rushed in ahead of the 2026 draft, the Saints, along with Port Adelaide and Carlton, have been vocal over their disdain of the alterations.
SEE MORE: Full list of AFL Draft rule changes
Lyon didn't want to add more fuel to the fire following Saints president Andrew Bassat's strong stance, which has been consistent for multiple years, but explained what McLachlan would do to assist with the equity of the draft.
"I line with our CEO Carl Dilena and our president's fuse," he said.
"I don't need to add to it except, you see at club land, the strongest interest is the self interest, and that's evident.
"We'd like to see a pure first round. Gil McLachlan, no one knows it better than Gil, and Gil said to me the solution is a pure first round. He's smarter than me and he knows the workings of the AFL better than most of us.
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"Hopefully at some point they get to a pure first round, but it doesn't look like it.
"If you make something harder, and add something in, those that are wedged in between suffer even more. Let's not call it the National Draft, let's call it the 'Compromised Draft'."
