Two-time Richmond premiership coach Damian Hardwick has backed Luke Beveridge's call to raise the draft age.
Hardwick believes players will benefit from an educational standpoint, going one greater than his Western Bulldogs counterpart in suggesting the draft age should be raised to 20.
When asked about Beveridge's idea to raise the age to 19, Hardwick said it should be "a little bit higher" with the current situation players face within the under-18 structure.
โFor the benefits of the kids coming through in future, I think I could probably go a little bit higher (than 19) โฆ One year out of school is OK, but two years would be even better for mine,โ Hardwick said on Fox Footy Live.
โI understand itโs going to be detrimental to the kids that are possibly drafted now.
โWhat I do love about lifting the draft age is the players will have some sort of education or some sort of training behind them.
โThe AFL career only averages out to about three or four years for most so at least they can fall back onto something.โ
The Tigers coach suggested that clubs could be facing an increase in list cuts due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, meaning less players could be drafted each year.
The 47-year-old added that players drafted straight out of high school may struggle outside of the AFL if their careers were to be cut short.
โWeโre drafting kids at 18 years of age and they havenโt even experienced life really,โ he said.
โThe more we can give the experience about what it is to live a normal life and not in an AFL bubble is going to be very important for them for the back-end of their career.
โThe life experience is so important.โ
