Rookie upgrades set for draft

ELEVATED rookies will share in the limelight at the NAB AFL Draft with those players to have their names read out on November 26.

In previous seasons, players who have earned an upgrade to their club's senior list have not been part of draft day. Instead, they have done so in relative anonymity through standard lodgement with the AFL.

But with a change in draft rules this year, rookies may now be included as one of a club's three compulsory selections.

Theoretically, this means a club could only use its first-round pick and then upgrade two rookie-listed players to round out its draft activities.

It won't be the case for the 2009 draft though with clubs to announce their rookie upgrades with their final selections.

That means Adelaide, which will promote Brodie Martin, will select players with picks 13, 29, 45 and 61 before announcing Martin at 74.

However, the Crows do have the option of passing any of their picks before 74 should they wish to reserve a selection in the NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft.

Carlton, Port Adelaide, Richmond, St Kilda and the Western Bulldogs will use their final two draft picks for the players they have nominated.

"It's all about providing the clubs with a little bit more flexibility in this expansion period," AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said.

"The clubs asked us to consider allowing that this year because the draft age was changed, meaning that the draft pool is narrower this year and we're going into a period in which the Gold Coast club will have a number of concessions and then the western Sydney club is planned to have a number of concessions as well."

Following Friday's second and final list lodgement, it is now known that 17 of the 95 available selections in this month's NAB AFL Draft will be used on elevated rookies: around 20 per cent of the names to be read out on draft night.

Zac Dawson (St Kilda), Greg Broughton (Fremantle), Robin Nahas (Richmond), Liam Picken (Western Bulldogs) and Aaron Joseph (Carlton) - a NAB AFL Rising Star nominee - are the higher profile players to be upgraded.

Upgraded rookies in 2010
Adelaide: Brodie Martin
Brisbane Lions: Pearce Hanley
Carlton: Sam Jacobs, Aaron Joseph
Collingwood: Nil
Essendon: Nil
Fremantle: Greg Broughton
Geelong: Jeremy Laidler
Hawthorn: Matthew Suckling
Melbourne: Nil
North Melbourne: Cruize Garlett
Port Adelaide: Daniel Stewart, Wade Thompson
Richmond: Andrew Browne, Robin Nahas
St Kilda: Zac Dawson, Luke Miles
Sydney Swans: Kristin Thornton
West Coast: Nil
Western Bulldogs: James Mulligan, Liam Picken

Log on to afl.com.au on D-day, Thursday, November 26, for the most comprehensive coverage of the 2009 NAB AFL Draft. We’ll have live chats, live audio streams, in-depth player profiles, club reaction and our famous afl.com.au Draft Tracker.