The AFL will hold a special NAB AFL Draft meeting on Wednesday September 17, 2014 for all clubs who wished to consider selecting a player who had partaken in the upcoming Foxtel show on FOX8, ‘The Recruit’, which goes to air from Wednesday night.
AFL General Counsel Andrew Dillon said the AFL Commission had determined that the player selected at this Draft could be placed on club lists as a Category B rookie. All clubs have the right to participate in the draft meeting, but it is not compulsory to make a bid or selection for a player.
The Recruit will be broadcast at 7.30pm on Wednesdays on FOX8, starting from Wednesday evening, with an encore screening on FOX FOOTY on Sunday nights at 8.30pm.
While aspects of the draft /selection process will become clear through the course of the 10-week run of the show, all 18 AFL clubs will have an opportunity to select the winner of The Recruit through the live draft selection process scheduled for the final episode on September 17.
Players had to be 20 years of age on or before December 31, 2013 and may not have been on an AFL Primary or Rookie List at any time previously in their career or on a VFL, SANFL or WAFL club list in 2012 and 2013.
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said he wished to thank Foxtel, through its Channel FOX8, for its support of the show, which will give players from outside the traditional AFL talent pathways the opportunity to be drafted on to an AFL list.
"The dream to play AFL football is held by thousands and thousands of players across our country, with only the elite getting to run on the ground for an AFL match," Mr McLachlan said.
"Many many players, who are very fine footballers, have not been able to get that opportunity to discover if they are good enough to play at the highest level, for a host of different reasons.
"The Recruit has gone out to find those players who are outside our traditional pathways and give them opportunity to impress, under the coaching of a Hall of Fame inductee in Michael Voss and the best possible training and off-field support."
Foxtel General Manager, General Entertainment Channels, Brendon Moo, said: "The AFL’s support and commitment to The Recruit will give one of these young players the opportunity of a lifetime. This new series is a perfect way to showcase Foxtel's partnership with the AFL, and is a unique, inspirational and entertaining new program for our viewers to follow each week."
The winner of The Recruit will be guaranteed a club position on an AFL list for the 2015 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.
