AS TRADE week ticks into what seems like its fifth trimester today, its time to apply a liberal dose of jalapeno paste to what annually degenerates into a rumour-driven snoozefest.

I’ve long been a proponent of spicing up the draft – primarily with a lottery-based system – but the urgency to overhaul that system has waned with the tanking police finally active and the propensity to dole out priority picks thankfully diminishing.

So it’s now time to bring this interminable trade period to life with another team-building tool widely used in North American pro sports – the ability to trade future draft picks.

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Thankfully, the AFL has relented in recent seasons and allowed the exchange of picks for the next national draft. It even permits club to use compensation picks as part of their dealings.

But we still can't throw future years' bait out to get a nibble.

Now that we've all but emerged from the compromised drafts through the formative years of the expansion teams, it’s the perfect time to take that next step in time for season 2015.

And let’s look at an example of how it could work using Hawthorn and St Kilda - discounting the deal they struck last week for Ben McEvoy and Shane Savage.

The Hawks and Saints are clearly at opposite ends of the premiership spectrum, with the added edge for Hawthorn that its VFL affiliate Box Hill is seemingly well stocked. Conversely, the Saints have finally publicly admitted they are rebuilding and going down the draft route.

The league’s reasoning behind disallowing "futures trading" is twofold: firstly that it doesn’t want clubs to jeopardise their futures; secondly it’s keen to see how the new free agency rules bed down.

But there are few greater chances for two clubs to simultaneously look after their medium-term health than by allowing such a swap.

The Hawks offer up their low-end first-round pick and compensation pick for Lance Franklin in exchange for St Kilda’s first pick next season, or even the season after. Part of the deal might be for next year’s presumably late first-round pick to also head to Seaford.

The lure and appeal for both clubs is very real. The Saints get three first-rounders and a kick-start in their rebuild; the Hawks get a top-end pick when it’s likely to be far more relevant, especially with the Saints unlikely to be too far from the foot of the ladder in the next two years.

It puts a premium on planning, allowing smarter clubs – in any ladder position – to stay ahead of the game.

Fremantle, for example, could plan for the possible simultaneous retirements of Matthew Pavlich and Aaron Sandilands by stockpiling picks for that season. Ditto Geelong with Jimmy Bartel and Corey Enright.

In fact, the best example of such planning previously also belongs to the Cats, who's recruiting guru Stephen Wells orchestrated a fistful of high picks in the 2001 draft that ultimately yielded Bartel, James Kelly, Charlie Gardiner and Steve Johnson all in the top 24.

There will be those who disagree, countering that desperate coaches might be willing to sell the farm by cashing in their clubs' futures for instant remedies.

But any club, or football department, willing to let that happen has already taken its eye off the ball and will be in long-term trouble anyhow.

