The 2016 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) could trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2016 AFL season. Additions to each club's playing list are not allowed at any other time during the year.
The key dates for the trading and drafting periods were: The free agency offer period; held between 7 October and 19 October. Three further free agency periods were held for delisted players, between 1 November and 8 November, 10 November to 18 November, and 26 November to 27 November, The trade period; held between 10 October and 20 October, The 2016 national draft; held on 25 November, at the Hordern Pavilion, which included live bidding for academy and father-son selections. The 2017 pre-season draft; which was to be held on 28 November, but was cancelled when all clubs declined to take part, and The 2017 rookie draft; which was held on 28 November.
Player movements Previous trades The 2015 AFL draft included a new initiative whereby clubs could trade future picks; through this scheme, fourteen picks in the 2016 draft were traded prior to the commencement of the 2016 trade period:
Round Original club New club How acquired Ref 1 Adam Treloar trade 1 via (Lachie Henderson trade)on-traded to for Lamb, Phillips, Plowman, Sumner 1 Pick swap 2 Curtly Hampton trade 2 Pick swap 2 Charlie Dixon trade 2 Charlie Dixon trade 2 via (Nathan Freeman trade)on-traded to for James Aish 3 Jarrad Jansen and Josh Walker trade 3 Ryan Bastinac trade 3 Pick swap 4 Pick swap 4 Michael Talia trade 5 Steve Johnson trade
Trades + 2016 AFL trade period No. Player(s) Traded from Traded to Traded for Ref1234 second round pick ()567 first round pick () 8 9 first round pick () 10 11 12 13 second round pick () 14 15 16 17 third round pick () third round pick () fourth round pick () fourth round pick () 18 19 first round pick () second round pick () 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 second round pick () 29 third round pick () third round pick () fourth round pick () 30 31 32 fourth round pick () fifth round pick () 33 first round pick () third round pick () 34 second round pick () first round pick () 35 36 fourth round pick () second round pick () 37 second round pick () 38 39 second round pick ()
Note The numbering of the draft picks in this list may be different to the agreed draft picks at the time of the trade, due to adjustments from either the insertion of free agency compensation draft picks or clubs exiting the draft before later rounds.
Free agency
+ 2016 AFL free agency period signings Player Date Free agent type Former club New club Compensation Ref 10 October 2016 Restricted 2nd round 11 October 2016 Unrestricted 2nd round 12 October 2016 Unrestricted 2nd round 16 October 2016 Restricted None 4 November 2016 Delisted 4 November 2016 Delisted 8 November 2016 Delisted 8 November 2016 Delisted 15 November 2016 Delisted Note Due to James Kelly and Matt Dea being signed as top up players because of the 2012 Essendon supplements saga, they had to be delisted and then re-signed in order to stay on Essendon's list.
Retirements and delistings
List of 2016 AFL player changes Name Club Date Notes Ref. Retired due to ongoing foot injury, effective immediately Retired due to no longer having a passion for playing professionally Retired due to losing passion for the game Retired due to ongoing concussion, effective immediately Retired due to mental illness, effective immediately Retired, effective immediately Delisted Retired, effective at the end of the season Retired, effective after round 20 Retired, effective at the end of the season Retired, effective immediately Retired, effective immediately Retired, effective at the end of the season Retired, effective after round 22 Retired, effective at the end of the season Retired, effective after round 22 Retired, effective at the end of the season Retired, effective at the end of the seasonRetired, effective immediatelyRetiredRetiredRetiredDelisted Retired, effective at the end of the seasonDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedRetiredDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedRetiredDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelisted Retired, effective immediatelyDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedRetiredDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedRetiredDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedRetiredRetiredRetiredDelistedRetiredRetiredDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedRetiredRetiredDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedRetiredDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedDelistedRetired due to ongoing concussionRetired due to losing passion for the gameRetired
2016 national draft The received a priority pick at the end of the first round (pick 19) after a request by the club to the AFL commission was accepted. It was the first time a priority pick was given to a club since the rules regarding priority selections were changed in 2012. This pick was later on-traded to as part of the Pearce Hanley trade to , before the Sydney Swans ended up with it by the trade deadline.
A change was made to the rules concerning academy and father-son selections which allowed clubs to begin the draft with only as many draft picks as it had empty positions on its playing list. This was intended to end the practice which had taken place the previous year in which clubs with academies had traded down the draft order to accumulate a large number of mid- and low-range draft picks specifically to use on academy bids.
Final draft order
RoundPickPlayerDrafted toRecruited fromLeagueNotes 1 1 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup 1 2 Sandringham Dragons TAC CupTraded from 1 3 North Ballarat Rebels TAC CupTraded from ; received from 1 4 Gippsland Power TAC Cup 1 5 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup Academy player, Carlton's bid matched with picks 15 and 37. 1 6 WAFL 1 7 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup Traded from 1 8 WAFL Traded from ; received from 1 9 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup Traded from 1 10 Cairns AFL Cairns Academy player, Sydney's bid matched with pick 11. 1 11 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup Traded from 1 12 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup 1 13 Western Jets TAC Cup 1 14 Collingullie-Glenfield Park RFNL Academy player, Adelaide's bid matched with picks 38, 44 and 51. 1 15 Eastern Ranges TAC Cup 1 16 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 1 17 North Ballarat Rebels TAC CupTraded from ; received from ; received from 1 18 WAFL Traded from 1 19 WAFL 1 20 North Broken Hill BHFL Academy player, Sydney's bid matched with picks 52, 54, 55 and 56. Priority 21 SANFL Traded from ; received from 2 22 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup 2 23 Geelong Falcons TAC Cup 2 24 North Ballarat Rebels TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 2 25 NEAFL Traded from ; received from ; free agency compensation pick (Mayne) 2 26 NEAFL Traded from ; received from 2 27 WAFL 2 28 Northern Knights TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 2 29 WAFL Free agency compensation pick (Vickery) 2 30 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup 2 31 Eastern Ranges TAC Cup Traded from 2 32 Bendigo Pioneers TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 2 33 North Ballarat Rebels TAC Cup Traded from ; received from ; received from ; received from ; received from 2 34 NEAFLAcademy eligible, but the did not match the bid 2 35 Eastern Ranges TAC Cup Father–son rule selection (son of Gavin Brown); North Melbourne's bid matched with pick 44. 2 36 Surfers Paradise QAFL Free agency compensation pick (Wells) 2 37 WAFL 2 38 Geelong Falcons TAC Cup Traded from , received from ; received from ; received from ; received from 2 39 Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup Traded from 2 40 VFL 2 41 SANFL Traded from 3 42 Bendigo Pioneers TAC CupAcademy eligible, but did not match the bid 3 43 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup Traded from 3 44 Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup Traded from ; received from ; received from 3 45 Eastern Ranges TAC Cup Traded from 3 46 VFL Traded from 3 47 Henty HFL Academy eligible, but did not match the bid; traded from ; received from 3 48 WAFL Traded from 3 49 SANFL Traded from 3 50 Bendigo Pioneers TAC Cup Traded from ; received from ; received from ; received from 3 51 NEAFL 3 52 SANFL Traded from 3 53 SANFL Traded from 4 54 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup Academy player, traded from ; received from 4 55 NEAFL Academy player 4 56 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Traded from , received from 4 57 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Father–son rule selection (son of Peter Daicos); traded from 4 58 AFL 4 59 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup Traded from ; received from ; received from ; received from 4 60 WAFL Traded from 4 61 North Ballarat Rebels TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 4 62 Northern Knights TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 4 63 Eastern Ranges TAC Cup Traded from ; received ; received from 4 64 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 4 65 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 4 66 VFL Traded from , received from 4 67 Palm Beach Currumbin QAFL Academy player 4 68 VFL Traded from ; received from 4 69 Grovedale GFL 4 70 Bendigo Pioneers TAC Cup Traded from 5 71 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup Traded from , received from 5 72 Murray Bushrangers TAC CupAcademy eligible, but did not match the bid 5 73 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup 5 74 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup Traded from 5 75 UNSW Sydney AFLAcademy eligible, but Sydney did not match the bid 5 76 Calder Cannons TAC Cup 6 77 WAFL Father–son rule selection (son of Chris Waterman)
Notes Free agency compensation picks are additional selections awarded to teams based on their net loss of players during the free agency trade period. Academy players are local zone selections available to the four New South Wales and Queensland clubs. Both academy and father-son selections are subject to a bidding process, where the club with the family or academy connection must match any opposition club's bid with their next available selection.
Rookie elevations Clubs were able to promote any player who was listed on their rookie list in 2016 to their 2017 primary playing list prior to the draft.
Player Club Ref.
2017 rookie draft RoundPickPlayerDrafted toRecruited fromLeagueNotes 1 1 SANFL 1 2 AFL 1 3 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup 1 4 AFL 1 5 SANFL 1 6 SANFL 1 7 Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup 1 8 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup 1 9 SANFL 1 10 VFL 1 11 WAFL 1 12 WAFL 1 13 AFL Shaw retired on 9 November 2016, but was retained on the club's 2017 list to help with medical costs for concussion treatment. 1 14 St Kevin's College APS 1 15 AFL 1 16 Geelong Falcons TAC Cup 1 17 Calder Cannons TAC Cup 1 18 Eastern Ranges TAC Cup 2 19 AFL 2 20 SANFL 2 21 WAFL 2 22 AFL 2 23 AFL 2 24 AFL 2 25 VFL 2 26 SANFL 2 27 Passed 2 28 Western Jets TAC Cup 2 29 AFL 2 30 Passed 2 31 AFL 2 32 AFL Patfull retired on 12 October 2016, but was retained on GWS's 2017 list due to Total Player Payment obligations. 2 33 Calder Cannons TAC Cup 2 34 VFL 2 35 AFL 3 36 AFL 3 37 VFL 3 38 AFL 3 39 AFL 3 40 SANFL 3 41 VFL 3 42 SANFL 3 43 WAFL 3 44 AFL 3 45 SANFL Father–son rule selection (son of Darren Jarman) 3 46 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup 3 47 Passed 3 48 North Ballarat Rebels TAC Cup 3 49 AFL 4 50 AFL 4 51 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup 4 52 Passed 4 53 Geelong Falcons TAC Cup Father–son rule selection (son of Sean Simpson) 4 54 SANFL 5 55 Passed
Category B rookie selections
During the trade period, clubs could nominate category B rookies to join their club.