Sydney ' s first pick didn ' t start there , you have to look at what they started with before doing a series of trades . In net terms , Sydney traded an entire draft starting with something like picks 14 , 32 and 48 and Bird for Mills and , like , Tyrone Leonardis at pick 51 . They did some mutually advantageous 2 for 1 swaps with a couple of clubs to inflate their points stockpile by about 10 %, but otherwise it was Sydney converting all the materiel they started with into Mills . If a club who finishes 5 th can ' t afford to swap their whole draft and a player for access to one player , the price is probably too steep to warrant investing in talent the incentive would then become delaying those players development and hiding them away from national championships and the like , lest they rise out of availability .