The league is pushing ahead with moves that will affect father-son prospects and all academy (northern and next generation) selections, despite strong objections from several clubs.
Lyon this week argued the AFL hasn't gone far enough in overhauling the draft, which blew out to a first round last year of 25 picks instead of what should be 18.
The Saints, led by president Andrew Bassat, have been vocal about wanting change, targeting the Queensland teams for their access to academy talent.
But Hardwick on Friday launched another passionate defence of the northern academies, continuing the Suns' public slanging match with St Kilda over the matter.
"Our greatest asset to growing the game, getting more kids playing the game and getting more money into the game, is by getting more talent playing the game," Hardwick said.
"And if you want to sit there and say it's a compromise, I'm looking at it more from a growth perspective.
"It is a progressive thing the AFL has done (introducing northern academies). Now all of a sudden we're starting to wheel that back."
Sydney coach Dean Cox argued northern academy players should be treated differently to father-son prospects, given the time, effort and resources that go into nurturing talent that otherwise might be lost to the AFL.
The Swans are set to put a proposal to league bosses, pushing for financial compensation for NSW and Queensland clubs who lose academy talent to rival clubs.
GWS coach Adam Kingsley said he was "clearly disappointed" the Giants will have to pay a greater price for the academy players they develop.
The AFL on Wednesday confirmed the contentious changes will be brought in immediately ahead of the 2026 draft, with AFL football performance boss Greg Swann defending the move.
Carlton and Port Adelaide, in particular, lobbied hard for changes to be delayed until at least 2027 because they both have elite father-son talent available in this year's draft.
Blues coach Michael Voss echoed club president Rob Priestley's disappointment that clubs had been denied a "runway" into the changes.
But they did have some warning that moves were afoot, as Swann was at pains to point out this week.
"We felt like the immediacy of that was just a little bit too tight," Voss said.
"But I guess with the estimation of something happening, we tried to future-proof ourself last year. The decisions we made going into last year's trade period were all for this part.
"So we are well positioned for it - we're very well positioned for it - but at the same time I think with an element of fairness maybe in another 12 months we could've implemented this."
Carlton have their sights set on drafting father-son prospect Cody Walker, who will make his VFL debut for the Blues this weekend.
Walker, 18, is the son of former Carlton star Andrew Walker, who played 202 games for the club between 2004 and 2016.
"It's just fantastic for us and, as I said, we've put ourselves in a great position to be able to get him when we need to," Voss said.
"But it's particularly pleasing to see he's playing some VFL football with us.
"He'll have a few games with us this year, which is just going to be a huge advantage for us."
