AFL Toyota Premiership 2008

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The NAB AFL Rising Stars Program is a talent identification and development program from grass roots through to the elite AFL level. It provides recognition and a clearly identifiable direction for the players' career. The program incorporates the following:

• NAB AFL Rising Star
• NAB AFL Draft
• NAB AFL U18 Championships
• AIS-AFL Academy
• NAB AFL U16 Championships

An even competition:
The AFL's drafting system which began in 1986 is a cornerstone of the competition. Along with the Total Player Payments and the gate equalisation policy it assists in developing an even and stable competition.

How it works:
In simple terms, the NAB AFL Draft is designed to give clubs which finished lower on the ladder the first opportunity to pick the best new talent in Australia. At season's end, all clubs are allocated draft selections. The club that finished last receives the first selection, the second last team gets the second selection and so on until the premier receives the 16th selection. This is called a round of selections. A club which finishes the season with fewer than five wins may also receive a priority draft pick. A priority pick would give that club a selection prior to the second round. The drafting process takes place between seasons and has four distinct phases: the trading (exchange) period, NAB AFL Draft, NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft and NAB AFL Rookie Draft.

Trading period:
The trading period occurs shortly after the end of the season and allows clubs to trade players on that year's list to other clubs in exchange for other players, draft selections or a combination of both. The simplest form of this deal is to trade player A for player B, but often the deals are more complicated involving combinations of clubs, players and draft selections. Players involved must consent to the swap before a deal can be finalised and deals must be forwarded to the AFL by an agreed deadline.

NAB AFL Draft:
It is compulsory for clubs to participate and by this stage they can have a maximum of 35 players on their list. The AFL forms an official order of selection for that year’s NAB AFL Draft and distributes it to all clubs and media. Potential AFL players from around Australia must nominate for the NAB AFL Draft by the cut-off date to be eligible for selection. Clubs can also nominate players they will select under the father/son rule (explained later) before the draft and elevate players from the Rookie List on to their senior list. The NAB AFL Draft is the centrepiece of the AFL's off-season. It commands huge media attention with all selections analysed and each club's strategy assessed. The number at which a player is selected in the draft has implications for his minimum entitlements under the AFL/AFL Players' Association Collective Bargaining Agreement. Much of the attention is focused on the No.1 draft selection.

Rookie List:
The Rookie List has been a successful innovation in AFL football. Each club is allowed to select a maximum of six players, or nine in the case of Sydney and Brisbane, to be placed on the rookie list. These players can play in the pre-season competition or be promoted as a long-term injury replacement player during the home and away season.

Father/son rule:
Sons of former AFL players can play with the same club their father played or officiated with under the father/son rule. The main eligibility requirement is that the son’s father must have played 100 games for that club. The rule is designed to continue the traditions of association that a family has with a particular club.

West Australian and South Australian AFL teams have a modified father/son rule in place relating to games played in the WAFL or SANFL. This potentially gives the four “new” AFL teams a similar chance to unearth father/son players, noting that it will be some years before genuine father/sons of those AFL clubs will appear as prospects through the natural course of time.