AFL Draft 2026: dates, pick 1 and how it works
Round one is on 19 November at Marvel Stadium. Here is how the order works, what changed for bids, and who moved in the trade period.
The AFL's player movement season has one big stop left. The trade period closed on 14 October 2026, and the clubs now wait for the national draft at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne next month. Here is when each part happens, how the picks are ordered, and how the trade period reshaped the board.
Draft dates and times
All times are AEDT. Every 2026 draft night is being run at Marvel Stadium.
| Event | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Delisted free agency opens | Monday 2 November 2026 | 9am |
| Delisted free agency closes | Friday 6 November 2026 | 5pm |
| National draft, round one | Thursday 19 November 2026 | 7pm |
| National draft, remaining rounds | Friday 20 November 2026 | 7pm |
| Rookie draft | Monday 23 November 2026 | 3pm |
Restricted and unrestricted free agency ran from 2 to 9 October, and the trade period from 5 to 14 October. Both are finished. The delisted window in early November is the last chance for clubs to sign players who have been cut from other lists without using a pick.
How the draft order is set
The starting point is the final ladder in reverse. The club that finished last picks first in each round, and the premier picks last among the 18 clubs. Teams that played finals are ordered by how far they went, so a club knocked out in week one sits ahead of a preliminary finalist.
Three things then move that order around. Clubs trade picks, sometimes years in advance. The league inserts compensation picks for clubs that lost free agents, and the size of that pick depends on the contract the player signed elsewhere. Matched academy and father-son bids push picks further down the list on the night, which is why the order published today will still shift before 19 November.
As of 23 October, Essendon holds pick 1, with Richmond at 2 and West Coast at 3. Melbourne has pick 4 through a deal with Port Adelaide, and Richmond also holds pick 5, which began life as Port's free agency compensation for losing Zak Butters. Essendon kept pick 1 through the trade period instead of splitting it.
Academy and father-son bids
Clubs can nominate the sons of past players who meet the games threshold, along with players from their own academies. These include the northern academies run by the Queensland and New South Wales clubs and the next generation academies that every club runs for players from Indigenous and multicultural backgrounds. The nominating club cannot simply take its player at a pick of its choosing. When a rival club bids, the nominating club has to match by giving up draft picks whose points add up to the value of the bid, and every pick in the draft carries a points value set by the league.
The rules are tighter in 2026. The AFL confirmed in April that clubs can use no more than two picks to match a bid. Clubs that finished 11th to 18th get a 10 per cent discount on bids that come in from picks 1 to 36, while the two grand final teams carry a 20 per cent points loading. A club whose first-round pick slides back because another club matched a bid now receives an extra second-round compensation pick. Matching an early bid will cost more than it has in recent years.
That matters at the very top this year. Port Adelaide next generation academy prospect Dougie Cochrane is widely tipped to attract a bid at pick 1, and Carlton father-son prospect Cody Walker, son of former Blue Andrew Walker, is rated by many recruiters as the second-best player in the pool. Neither selection is confirmed, and the final call belongs to Essendon on the night.
Live pick trading
Clubs can keep trading picks during the national draft itself. A trade has to be agreed between the clubs and lodged with the league before the relevant pick comes up, and these deals are usually swaps of current picks for future ones. Draft night picks change hands every year, so the order on the screen at 7pm is often different from the one at the end of round one.
What happened in the trade period
Several established stars changed clubs in 2026. The moves below were completed between 2 and 14 October, through free agency or trades.
- Zach Merrett left Essendon for Hawthorn in a trade for draft picks, on the first day of the period.
- Zak Butters moved from Port Adelaide to the Western Bulldogs as a restricted free agent. The Bulldogs also brought in Finn Maginness, Hudson O'Keeffe and free agent Jordon Butts.
- Ben King joined Hawthorn from Gold Coast as a restricted free agent, giving the Hawks two of the biggest names of the period.
- Collingwood signed Lachie Neale from Brisbane as a free agent and traded for Jesse Hogan from GWS. Scott Pendlebury left Collingwood for Gold Coast.
- Nick Blakey moved from Sydney to North Melbourne on a reported eight-year deal worth more than $11 million. Sydney received pick 6 and North's first and second-round picks in 2028.
- Geelong added Toby Greene from GWS as a free agent, plus Rowan Marshall from St Kilda and Jordan Ridley from Essendon. Jack Bowes went the other way to Essendon.
- Lachie Whitfield left GWS for Carlton. GWS lost four senior players over the window, including Greene, Hogan and Kieren Briggs, who joined Richmond.
- Deadline day brought Jack Viney and Trent Rivers from Melbourne to West Coast, Keidean Coleman from Brisbane to Essendon, and Luke Pedlar from Adelaide to Port Adelaide.
Some expected moves fell over. Nick Murray stayed at Adelaide after North Melbourne's final offer was knocked back, and Jayden Short remained at Richmond when a deal with Collingwood did not come together.
How to follow it
Round one on Thursday 19 November is the night most fans watch, and Fox Footy is the draft's broadcast partner. The later rounds the next evening move faster, with more live trading and more academy matching. The rookie draft on 23 November is a quicker affair held in the afternoon.
For a wider view of where the draft sits in the year, see our Australian sports calendar. If you are newer to the game, our guide to the AFL finals system explains how September results feed into the draft order.
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