THE AFL is edging closer to settling on a destination for this year's national draft, with Adelaide believed to be the frontrunner to host the event for the first time in nearly 20 years.
But a stumbling block could be the first day/night cricket Test at Adelaide Oval between Australia and New Zealand, which falls around the same dates as the League is trying to secure a night for the NAB AFL Draft.
The first day of the Test match is Friday, November 27.
The League could push the draft to the following week, but some clubs believe early December would be too late to get the new recruits on board, with only a couple of weeks left in the pre-Christmas training block.
The AFL has prolonged its decision to lock in a city, date or venue for this year's draft, despite the event being only about four months away.
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Complicating matters is the International Rules Series in Ireland, with a number of key AFL officials likely to travel to Dublin for the one-off Test at Croke Park on November 21.
After holding the draft on the Gold Coast the past three years, the AFL has been working for months on this year's location.
It is understood the Queensland tourism department put forward a three-year offer to hold the event through to the end of 2017, but the AFL also canvassed an option to bring the draft back to Melbourne.
Sydney has also been linked to holding the event, having staged the 2011 national draft when Greater Western Sydney entered the competition.
An oil company in Karratha is understood to have offered the AFL a significant financial sum to hold the draft in the remote West Australian town, and although the League explored the idea, there was not enough facilities or accommodation to go ahead.
The AFL likes the idea of taking the industry to a city outside of Melbourne to hold the draft, which is the final major event of the football calendar.
But the League has been keen to build the atmosphere around this year's draft, having struggled to pique the interest of many Gold Coast locals in recent years.
It has also closely followed the success of the NFL and NBA drafts in America, and is searching to find a way to have past and present champions of AFL clubs to be more involved on draft night.
The AFL did not wish to comment to AFL.com.au when contacted about its draft plans but Adelaide Oval, a possible host, would be open to staging the event.
"We've made no secret of our intention to continually bring major events to Adelaide Oval, and that is evidenced by the fact we are hosting Liverpool this month and AC/DC later this year," said Adelaide Oval general manager commercial Darren Chandler.
"While we haven't had any formal discussions about the AFL draft, we successfully hosted the AFL season launch in 2014 and we would be delighted to talk with them about potentially hosting the draft here.
"We think it's a great location with outstanding facilities for such an event."
This year's draft already shapes as a more interesting night, with the likely introduction of live bidding on father-son and academy prospects through the selection process.
If, as expected, the relevant technology is developed in time, it will mean clubs will decide during the draft whether they match a rival's bid for a father-son or academy player, or choose to let him go under the new points-based system.
