ALL EYES will be on West Coast and North Melbourne this weekend, with their fixtures to determine who will have the first selection in next week’s NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft.
Both clubs are currently locked on the bottom of the AFL ladder heading into their round 11 clashes, with the Eagles currently in last place courtesy of a slightly worse percentage compared to the Kangaroos.
West Coast is due to host the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium on Saturday night, while North Melbourne plays St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, with both teams holding a disappointing 1-9 record to date.
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The Kangaroos held the first selection in the mid-season draft last season where they chose developing ruckman Jacob Edwards, and are again able to open a list position this year due to a long-term shoulder injury to youngster Miller Bergman.
The heavily depleted Eagles, meanwhile, will take two picks into this year’s mid-season rookie draft after long-term injuries sustained by promising forward Oscar Allen and midfielder Luke Edwards.
So far, 15 clubs have either opened or have the ability to create a list vacancy heading into the mid-season draft while five teams – West Coast, Essendon, Adelaide, St Kilda and Carlton – can also open a secondary spot.
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Melbourne, Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs are the only teams currently without list vacancies heading into round 11, where the final draft order will be determined.
There is currently shaping to be 20 selections used at this year’s mid-season draft, after 22 selections were made last year. Just 13 picks were used when the event first returned in 2019.
See every NAB AFL Mid-Season Draft pick live and exclusively on AFL.com.au and the AFL Live Official App on Wednesday June 1 from 6.30pm AEST.
INDICATIVE MID-SEASON DRAFT ORDER
First round
1. West Coast (via Oscar Allen)
2. North Melbourne (via Miller Bergman)*
3. Essendon (via Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti)
4. Adelaide (via Rory Sloane)*
5. GWS Giants (via Josh Fahey)*
6. Hawthorn (via open list position)
7. Gold Coast (via Ben King)*
8. Port Adelaide (via Jake Pasini)
9. Collingwood (via Nathan Kreuger)*
10. Richmond (via Josh Caddy)
11. Sydney (via open list position)
12. Geelong (via open list position)
13. St Kilda (via Nick Coffield)*
14. Fremantle (via open list position)
15. Carlton (via open list position)
Second round
16. West Coast (via Luke Edwards)
17. Essendon (via Nik Cox)*
18. Adelaide (via Paul Seedsman)*
19. St Kilda (via Jack Hayes)*
20. Carlton (via Oscar McDonald)
* Denotes a list vacancy that can be created, but hasn’t been opened yet