The 1982 VFL draft was the second annual national draft held by the Victorian Football League, the leading Australian rules football league.
Held on 19 October 1982, all twelve VFL clubs participated in the draft, each having two picks, with the team finishing last in the 1982 VFL season having first choice, followed by the other eleven clubs in reverse finishing position order. Wooden spooners Footscray Football Club named East Fremantle ruckman Andrew Purser as the first pick of the draft.
The draft was limited to players aged sixteen and above in non-Victorian based competitions and tied players wishing to move to Victoria to the club that drafted them. Eleven South Australians were named, with eight Western Australians, three Tasmanians and two Queenslanders also drafted.
The draft, introduced as an equalisation strategy in response to the increasing transfer fees and player salaries at the time, was discontinued after the 1982 Draft, following requests from Melbourne and Geelong officials to consider a moratorium on interstate transfers, aimed at allowing South and Western Australian clubs hit by the draft to recover.The Canberra Times, "Swans claim Motley in interstate draft", 20 October 1982, p. 48. The draft did not reoccur until 1986 and has been held every year since.
RoundPickPlayerDrafted toRecruited fromLeagueGames with new team1 1 Andrew Purser East Fremantle WAFL 1121 2 Allan Sidebottom Swan Districts WAFL 551 3 Gary Shaw Claremont WAFL 321 4 Baden Harper Claremont WAFL01 5 Keith Thomas Norwood SANFL 0 1 6 Peter Motley Sturt SANFL 01 7 Bill Lokan North Adelaide SANFL 871 8 Brenton Phillips North Adelaide SANFL 101 9 Richard Cousins Central District SANFL 0 1 10 Rod Lester-Smith East Fremantle WAFL 701 11 David Palm West Perth WAFL 1041 12 Jon Simpson Woodville SANFL 02 13 Peter Walker City South NTFA 02 14 David Grant City South NTFA 1912 15 Carl Herbert Mayne QAFL 32 16 Brad Hardie South Fremantle WAFL 02 17 Ray Holden West Perth WAFL 32 18 Greg Anderson Port Adelaide SANFL 0 2 19 Grantley Fielke West Adelaide SANFL 0 2 20 Tony Antrobus North Adelaide SANFL 222 21 Garry McIntosh Norwood SANFL 02 22 Greg Hodson West Torrens SANFL 02 23 Mark Rowsley Kedron QAFL 02 24 Chris Gray Swansea FDFA 0
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