The Rookie Draft ensures that teenagers that have been overlooked in earlier drafts can still find their way onto an AFL club list while it also allows late developers the opportunity to play at the highest level.
Rookies may not form part of a club’s senior playing list, but there are opportunities for them to be elevated throughout the season and feature in senior matches.
This works to both reward rookies for their continued improvement and provide clubs with some insurance in case they are ravaged by injuries throughout the year.
Whether it is used as an incentive or simply as a list management strategy, there is no doubting that the rookie list system is playing an increasingly larger role in modern-day football.
Each team has enjoyed success in selecting a previously overlooked player in the rookie draft only to see him blossom into one of the team’s key contributors a few years later.
Sydney Captain Brett Kirk was argued to be the best rookie selection of all time in a recent column written on afl.com.au closely followed by Dean Cox (West Coast), Matthew Boyd (Western Bulldogs), Darren Jolly (Sydney), Nathan Bock (Adelaide), Russell Robertson (Melbourne), Tadhg Kennely (Sydney), Nick Maxwell (Collingwood), Brad Sewell (Hawthorn) and Dale Morris (Western Bulldogs).
Add to that list of quality players the likes of Matt Priddis (West Coast), Andrew Lovett (St Kilda), Aaron Davey (Melbourne), Nathan Foley (Richmond), Jason Porplyzia (Adelaide), Ben Rutten (Adelaide), Aaron Sandilands (Fremantle) and Tarkyn Lockyer (Collingwood) and you begin to understand how valuable rookie selections can become.
The Brisbane Lions have enjoyed some great results from players selected in the AFL Rookie Draft.
Dual premiership player Robert Copeland is the most accomplished former rookie in Club history with 143 games while Josh Drummond and Cheynee Stiller are the two most experienced former rookies still currently with the Lions.
A total of 21 rookie-listed players have made a senior appearance with the Lions since the Rookie Draft was introduced in 1997. They are as follows (listed by total matches played):
Robert Copeland (143 games)
Joel Macdonald (80 games)
Cheynee Stiller (67 games)*
Josh Drummond (65 games)*
Jason Roe (50 games)
Scott Harding (48 games)
Colm Begley (29 games)
Trent Knobel (13 games)
Marty Pask (8 games)
Nathan Clarke (6 games)
Marcus Allan (5 games)
Luke Weller (4 games)
Daniel Pratt (3 games)
Pearce Hanley (3 games)*
Will Hamill (3 games)
Scott Clouston (2 games)
Shannon Rusca (2 games)
Travis Baird (2 games)
Leigh Ryswyk (1 game)
Darren Bradshaw (1 game)
Daniel Dzufer (1 game)
*Player still listed with the Club
The most recent Lions rookie arrivals - Mitchell Golby, Josh Dyson, Niall McKeever, Sean Yoshiura, Claye Beams and Broc McCauley - can take confidence in the fact that their opportunity might arise in 2010 or beyond should they impress the Club’s coaching staff while serving their apprenticeship with the Lions Reserves team.
The system has proven a worthy development tool for both players and Clubs over the years. Without it, some of the country’s most talented ‘late developers’ may never have been discovered.
