• Draft wrap: Blues keep faith in wayward Curnow
• Draft expert Cal Twomey gives his verdict on every club 
• Who is Tom Doedee? Crows pull draft's biggest shock
• Why Jacob Weitering went No.1
• 2015 NAB AFL Draft tracker: Profiles, pics and video highlights of every draftee

1. Callum Mills made history

As expected, Swans Academy product Callum Mills etched his name in the history books as the first player to be bid on under the AFL's new bidding system. Melbourne offered up its No.3 pick, but the Swans quickly matched it with four lower picks to ensure Mills would wear the red and white in 2016. Seven of the eight academy players who were bid on were taken by their host clubs, with Lion Corey Wagner the odd man out – taken by the Kangaroos at No.43.

2. Old habits never die

In a move former coach Kevin Sheedy would have been proud of, Essendon stirred the Carlton pot by putting in a bid to land Blues' father-son product Jack Silvagni. The Bombers offered up pick No.53 to get the son of former Carlton champion and current list manager Stephen, which the Blues took about five seconds to match. What made the move even more amusing was that Carlton had the following pick (No.54) anyway. Good to see at least one rivalry has plenty of life in it.

3. It's not always so romantic at father-son time

While the Silvagni name will live on at Carlton through Jack, and the Rice name carries on at St Kilda through Bailey, one shock of the night came when the Sydney Swans chose to bypass Josh Dunkley. The son of former Swans defender Andrew – who played 217 games for the club – only nominated last week. But when the Western Bulldogs offered up pick No.25, the Swans declined to match.

4. Our man is the best in the business

In what many thought was one of the toughest drafts to pick in years, AFL.com.au's guru Callum Twomey made a pretty good fist of things. Aside from getting a couple of the bidding clubs wrong on academy players, Cal perfectly aligned clubs and players selected for the top 15. Things went haywire once Richmond put a bid in on GWS academy player Harrison Himmelberg at No.16, which the Giants matched, but even the greats have their limits.

5. The night dragged on … and on.

While the actual bidding process and equity of it all seemed to work a treat, boy did it drag the night out. The first round took almost an hour and the 70 players took two-and-a-quarter hours to rattle through. The process of nominating players and having the respective senior coaches walk up to the main stage to announce them seemed cumbersome and time consuming.

6. The venue is not always the place to be

Perhaps it was a case of fatigue setting in after a marathon first round, but the Adelaide Convention Centre was a mass of confusion early in the second round. In fact, it verged on farce. What has been explained as a "technical issue" resulted in no audio for the patrons at first, then intermittent audio from two competing Fox Footy channels. People were standing and chatting, oblivious to the fact round two selections had begun. Meanwhile, the Brisbane Lions had to match a bid on Ben Keays, the Sydney Swans passed on matching a bid on Josh Dunkley and the Bulldogs had selected Kieran Collins.

7. Test cricketers love their AFL too

That's no surprise, but Australian fast bowlers James Pattinson and Peter Siddle were among the packed crowd just two days before playing the historic first day/night Test against New Zealand at Adelaide Oval. Siddle is a massive North Melbourne fan and watched on as his Kangaroos picked up five players. The crowd was full of voice, particularly when the South Australian clubs made their selections, and the Crows fans even found time to boo when Patrick Dangerfield's name was mentioned.

8. Maybe Adelaide is the City of Brotherly Love?

Three more sets of brothers will play in the AFL in 2016, including a set of twins, with Harry McKay (Carlton) and Ben McKay (North Melbourne) both snapped up in the first round. The Blues will also have their own set of brothers after Charlie Curnow was taken at No.12 to play alongside older brother Ed. And Callum Ah Chee, brother of Port Adelaide's Brendon, is off to the Gold Coast after the Suns swooped on him at No.8. Brendon, fresh off his own breakout 11-game season for the Power, was front and centre to shake his little brother's hand.

9. Where the hot potato of pick No.28 ended up

This pick needs a book written on it. After a frantic draft period that saw it change hands a remarkable five times, the player its ultimate possessor, North Melbourne, chose was Tasmanian defender Mitchell Hibberd. Well, technically No.28 was Norwood's Luke Partington going to West Coast, but the pick that started at 28 – and slid to 33 after academy players were inserted – was Hibberd. And what a journey that pick took. It started the trade period with Geelong, then moved to Adelaide as part of luring Patrick Dangerfield. It then went to Carlton in the Troy Menzel deal, and on to GWS as the Blues lured four young Giants in return. GWS then moved it to Collingwood as part of the Adam Treloar trade, and ultimately it ended up with the Kangaroos as part of a complicated three-way swap that helped James Aish land at the Pies and Ryan Bastinac to the Lions. Follow? Neither do we.