North Melbourne has scoffed at suggestions there could be no Draft in 2020, with Brady Rawlings calling its potential scrapping a wrong move. 

The Kangaroos made bold moves to improve their hand in the upcoming Draft, including trading future picks, and the club’s football boss, Brady Rawlings, believes it should go ahead as planned.

“There are a lot of risks when you trade future picks … but the one risk you should never take is that the Draft doesn’t eventuate,” Rawlings told North Media on a Zoom chat.

“There should never not be a Draft when you’ve traded into the future.”

Rawlings confirmed league HQ has asked clubs for feedback, and says the Roos have been clear with their preference.

“The AFL has certainly asked us for feedback around a lot of things that are uncertain at the moment. That ranges from things like, how long we all need to prepare to get back into the season once this stand-down period is lifted … through to hubs, through to Drafts; a lot of things are covered,” he said.

“In terms of the future picks that are able to be traded … once that rule came in, then there needs to be a Draft the following year.

“You can’t be trading furutre picks and then you’ve traded into a future where there is no Draft.”

Rawlings says the Draft should go ahead, even if there are no more games played at Under 18 level.

“At Norrth we’ve had that covered really well, so even if there’s not another game played this year,” Rawlings said.

“We’ll still have enough knowledge and thoughts [about players] to be able to draft.

“Now it wouldn’t be a position where’d you’d be in last year, where you’ve got every bit of evidence in front of you, but you’ve got enough still to make a call.”

North Melbourne has three picks in the first two rounds of the Draft, including Melbourne’s first pick and Essendon’s second.

View the full 17-minute interview, covering a wide range of topics, below.