CLUBS will get a chance to replenish their lists through the year with the NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft to be held on Wednesday, June 1.
The AFL has locked in the event to be staged between rounds 11 and 12.
It needed to be before the bye weeks start in round 12 given that the draft order – like the national draft – is shaped by ladder positions and the bye weeks would mean not every club would have played the same amount of games.
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Last year there were 22 players selected at the mid-season rookie draft, with clubs investing in talls as seven ruckman, including the No.1 pick Jacob Edwards, were chosen.
This week's NAB AFL Rising Star nominee Jai Newcombe was picked by Hawthorn with the No.2 mid-season choice.
There is unlikely to be as many players picked this year unless there are a spate of long-term injuries across the AFL in coming weeks.
Five clubs – Carlton, Fremantle, Geelong, Hawthorn and Sydney – all have one list spot free that can be filled via the mid-season draft, although Adelaide can also open up a spot given Rory Sloane's season-ending knee injury.
Gold Coast (for Ben King) and St Kilda (Nick Coffield) could also place their respective injured players on the inactive list to open up a mid-season pick.
Where clubs held over list spots at the end of 2020 for the 2021 mid-season intake because of the likelihood of late developers being overlooked at the 2020 draft due to the COVID wipeout of the season, list bosses and recruiters erred on filling their lists for this year with the possibility they would need to call on as many players as possible due to health and safety protocols.
