What is the Rookie Draft
The rookie draft, held the afternoon after the national draft finishes, is a much shorter affair, with an average of 24 selections taken in the past three rookie drafts. Players taken here are added to a club’s rookie list, rather than the senior list.
Clubs have recently used the rookie draft to ‘re-draft’ players they have recently delisted. Under AFL rules, clubs must have at least three list senior list vacancies in order to take part in the national draft. Before the national draft, clubs will delist a player to open up a senior list spot, but commit to re-drafting that player in the rookie draft.
Other players taken in the rookie draft are primarily those who were overlooked in the national draft. During the national draft, you may hear about a club opting to wait for the rookie draft to pick up a player, rather than using up a primary list spot on them at the national draft.
The draft order for the rookie draft is reverse ladder position. It is not possible to trade and swap rookie draft picks.
How Many Picks Can Geelong Make
Geelong are expected to make three selections in the 2025 Rookie Draft, which will complete their list for the 2026 AFL season.
The club has committed to re-drafting George Stevens and Keighton Matofai-Forbes in the rookie draft, meaning they are likely to make one other selection as the afternoon unfolds.
Geelong’s Rookie History
The Cats currently have ten players on their list that started their journey with the Cats on the rookie list.
Among those players are premiership stars such as Mark Blicavs, Zach Guthrie, Jack Henry, Tom Atkins and Brad Close.
Young gun Ollie Dempsey also started his AFL journey on the rookie list.
Other Geelong players to be drafted as a rookie include Zach Tuohy, Max Rooke, James Podsiadly and Shannon Byrnes.
When Does it Start
The rookie draft is set to kick off around 3.20pm AEDT, on Friday the 21st of November.
Geelong will be providing updates through the Live Tracker, or watch all the action on afl.com.au.
