The AFL pre-season draft is the drafting of uncontracted players to teams in the Australian Football League (AFL). The draft is conducted after the national draft and before the start of the next AFL season. It is conducted at the same time as the rookie draft. The pre-season draft is a place for any uncontracted players to nominate that missed the national draft or who were delisted after it was held.
The pre-season draft was first held in 1989, and more than 50 selections were made in each of its first five years.Sinclair, Cameron; NAB AFL Pre-Season and Rookie Draft facts 10 December 2007 However, its importance has gradually diminished over the time, and pre-season drafts are now routinely cancelled due to every club opting against making a selection. It was considered that the pre-season draft only existed to protect the league from writs for restraint-of-trade,Reilly, Stephen; Opening new trade routes next goal ; The Australian; 11 October 2008 but due to the introduction of free agency in 2012, there have been calls to scrap the pre-season draft and extend the free agency period.
Eligibility Clubs receive selections in the draft based on where they finished on the AFL ladder during the year, generally in reverse order. Teams have the choice of whether to participate in the pre-season draft; many clubs fill their playing roster at the national draft, and hence do not participate in the pre-season draft. Also, unlike the national draft, picks in the pre-season drafts cannot be traded between clubs.
Players Historically, the pre-season draft has involved mostly recycled players. Until 2008, due to the standard players contract expiring at the end of November, players who did not wish to sign a new contract with their current club were forced to enter the pre-season draft if they were unable to be traded to another club during the trade week held prior to the national draft. There was no free agency in the AFL to allow uncontracted players to easily move clubs until after the 2012 season; delisted players had the option of nominating for either the national or pre-season drafts. In 2008, the rules were changed to also give uncontracted players the option of nominating for either draft.Ralph, Jon; Uncontracted players to decide on draft entry; 13 October 2008 However, the number of players being selected after being delisted or coming out of contract is diminishing, as most teams are not prepared to pick them ahead of younger players.
The lack of free agency was a powerful bargaining tool during trade week, as the team with the first pick could refuse a trade for a current uncontracted player at another club, and then recruit the player that wants to join their team for free with the first pick in the pre-season draft without giving anything to the other club. Conversely, the threat of losing a player for nothing into the pre-season draft could force a team to trade him for less than the player's true value. Number-one draft picks A total of 27 players have been selected at pick number one in the pre-season draft. Not every pre-season draft contains a number-one pick, as clubs may choose to pass on their selection for various list management reasons. As the pre-season draft was originally held towards the end of the pre-season in January or February, the naming of the draft is based on the following season. This is different from the naming of the national draft (which occurs in November), which is named according to the season just completed.
The following is a list of number-one pre-season draft picks since the draft's inception in 1989: DraftPlayerSelected byRecruited fromLeague recruited from1989Brian WintonVFL1990David ClokeVFL1991Michael McLeanAFL1992Ashley GreenAFL1993Richard OsborneAFL1994Dermott BreretonAFL1995Paul RoosAFL1996Brian McInnesCairnsCairns Australian Football League1997Stephen PaxmanAFL1998Jamie ShanahanAFL1999David CalthorpeAFL2000Shane O'BreeAFL2001Brett VossAFL2002No selection2003Stephen PowellAFL2004Jade RawlingsAFL2005Trent KnobelAFL2006Dylan McLarenAFL2007Cain AcklandAFL2008David GourdisSubiacoWAFL2009Liam JurrahYuendumuCentral Australian Football League2010Joel MacdonaldAFL2011Nathan AblettVFL2012No selection2013Bret ThorntonAFL2014Jed LambAFL2015No selection2016No selection2017No selection2018Cam O'SheaNorthern BluesVFL2019No selection2020Jack MartinAFL2021Jackson HatelyAFL2022No selection2023No selection 2024Chad Wingard AFL 2025Jack Gunston AFL 2026Callum Ah Chee AFL
See also Australian Football League draft
External links AFL official draft website
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