The state of the AFL rookie draft system has been criticised by Kane Cornes after several veteran players were delisted to be re-rookied.
Sydney delisted Dane Rampe and Jake Lloyd with a promise to select them in the rookie draft, while Brisbane have done the same with Lincoln McCarthy.
Both the Swans and Lions have made this move to open up available list spots for the AFL national draft - with each club needing three available list spots - and they will then re-add their delisted veterans to their list via the AFL rookie draft.
When the AFL rookie draft was originally conceived the players selected had to be 23 years of age or younger, but currently there is no age limit allowing clubs to exercise this loophole.
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"It’s just a reminder that it’s the dumbest rule possibly in sport," Cornes told SEN Breakfast.
"The whole idea of a rookie list is to give players that perhaps are not ready for the AFL the elite training environment to sit there at a lower price and less risk for clubs to be able to develop these players over a longer period of time.
"Dean Brogan, who I played with, was a great rookie. He came from a basketball background, was nowhere near ready to play AFL footy when he first got onto the AFL list. Would never have been discovered if it wasn’t for the rookie list and goes on to be a premiership player and a club great. That’s the idea of a rookie list.
"This is just ridiculous! Rampe is 35 and they’ve got him on a rookie list! I don’t know why the AFL accept this."
Cornes believes the best way to close this loophole and have the rookie list used for its initial purpose is having an age limit on players that can be rookied.
"Surely there is an age limit on whether you can be a rookie, and that would be the first thing," he said.
"I didn’t mind it where you can only be upgraded from being a rookie when there was a list spot that became available, whether due to an early retirement or a long-term injury.
"That’s the best use of a rookie list. The formula was never broken, but now it is, and it’s just bizarre that the AFL don’t do anything about this. It’s ridiculous.
"It’s laughable stuff! If we don’t keep speaking about it, they’ll just keep getting away with it. It is genuinely laughable."