AFL mid-season draft: How it works, where to watch

One club looks certain to avoid the mid-season draft while another is weighing up a late list change. But how will the actual night run? Jon Ralph has the latest details on what to expect next week.

Kyle Dunkley is in the mix to be picked up in the mid-season draft. Picture: Getty Images

West Coast, Brisbane and Geelong are likely to be the only AFL clubs without a mid-season draft selection next Monday.

Fox Footy will telecast the draft at 6.30pm, with two recruiting representatives from each club to attend an AFL House event expected to last about 30 minutes.

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No players will attend the event given the uncertainty about their selection, with about 16 picks likely to be taken.

Players selected will then be available at a media event the next day and will be eligible to play for their new teams the next week.

Coburg’s Sam Lowson, Gippsland Power’s Kyle Dunkley, South Fremantle’s Marlion Pickett and Williamstown’s Mitch Hibberd are some of the players being considered by clubs.

Kyle Dunkley is in the mix to be picked up in the mid-season draft. Picture: Getty Images

Fremantle now has a list spot available after Matt Taberner was moved to the long-term injury list following a season-ending injury this week.

The Western Bulldogs and Melbourne also opened up extra list spots by moving Liam Picken and Aaron Nietschke to the inactive list. Picken has retired and Nietschke has a season-ending knee injury.

AFL talent manager Kevin Sheehan believes the players most likely to actually play AFL this year are those chosen by a club from its aligned VFL team given the challenges of learning team tactics and playing styles.

But Geelong coach Chris Scott told AFL 360 on Monday clubs were simply stockpiling players instead of securing them for roles within the 2019 season.

“I don’t think that was the intention, and it looks like that’s the way it might be used,” he said.

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“Stephen Wells, who I have an enormous amount of respect for, our list manager and recruiting manager, has been opposed to the idea for a long time on the basis that the art of list management is getting your team ready for the whole season.”

Originally published as AFL mid-season draft: How it works, where to watch