The 1996

AFL draft The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft (sports), draft of unsigned players, especially new nominations, by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League ( ...

was held at the conclusion of the 1996 Australian Football League (AFL) season. The inaugural rookie draft was held with the 1997 pre-season draft. The

is the annual draft of new unsigned players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League. Clubs receive picks based on the position in which they finish on the ladder during the season, although these picks can be swapped around by teams for trading players.

Trades: club by club

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Brett James Brett James Cornelius (born June 5, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer based in Nashville. James' compositions have been credited on 494 recordings by a wide variety of artists. Signed to Career Records (a ...

from for Jonathon Ross * Trent Ormond-Allen from for draft pick #83 * Clay Sampson from for Nick Pesch *

Tim Cook Timothy Donald Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive who is the current chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Cook had previously been the company's chief operating officer under its co-founder Steve Jobs. Cook joined ...

and Aaron Keating from for Scott Hodges * Nick Laidlaw from for David Brown * Barry Standfield from for draft picks #32 and #47

Carlton

Ben Nelson Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013. He is a member of the D ...

and Andrew Balkwill from for Brent Heaver *

Mick McGuane Michael McGuane (born 29 December 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1980s and 1990s. Playing career Early years (1987–1990) McGuane showed great promise fo ...

from for draft picks #19 and #65

Collingwood

Anthony Rocca Anthony Rocca (born 15 August 1977) is a former Australian rules footballer who has played with the Sydney Swans and Collingwood in the Australian Football League. Rocca is currently serving as North Melbourne's development coach. Early l ...

from for Ben Wilson, Mark Orchard and draft picks #14 and #33 * John R. Barnett from for draft pick #70 * Richard Osborne from for draft pick #61 * Jonathon Ross from for

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

* Hamish Simpson and Cameron Roberts from for draft pick #37 * Tim Hargreaves from for Aaron Lord

Hawthorn

* Aaron Lord from for Tim Hargreaves * Justin Crawford from for David McEwan and draft pick #17

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

* Kent Kingsley and Wade Kingsley from for Paul Geister

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

* Nick Pesch from for Clay Sampson

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

Shane Bond Shane Edward Bond (born 7 June 1975) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer and present bowling coach of Rajasthan Royals, described as "New Zealand's best fast bowler since Sir Richard Hadlee", and often among the greatest fast b ...

and Brayden Lyle from for draft pick #57 * Shayne Breuer from for Hamish Simpson, Cameron Roberts and draft picks #8 and 43 * David Brown from for Nick Laidlaw * Paul Geister from for Kent Kingsley and Wade Kingsley * Brent Heaver from for

and Andrew Balkwill * Scott Hodges from for Aaron Keating and

**''For zone and uncontracted player selections see

below Below may refer to: *Earth *Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname * Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general * Fred Belo ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

* Trent Nichols from for draft pick #50

St Kilda

Troy Gray Troy Gray (born 26 February 1973) is an Australian television producer, presenter and former Australian Football League (AFL) player. He played with the Sydney Swans and the St Kilda Football Club. Gray has created a number of global television ...

from for draft pick #34

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

* Mark Orchard and Ben Wilson from for

* David McEwan from for Justin Crawford

West Coast

* Ilija Grgic from for Luke Trew and draft pick #20

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

* Simon Minton-Connell from for draft pick #29 * Luke Trew from for Ilija Grgic

1996 national draft

1997 pre-season draft

1997 rookie draft

The first AFL rookie draft was held on 25 February 1997. Only players aged between 18 and 23 were eligible to be drafted. Whilst each club could draft up to six players onto their Rookie Lists, only , and selected a full complement, whilst and declined to take part.

Port Adelaide zone selections

As part of Port Adelaide's entry to the AFL they were entitled to recruit some uncontracted players from other AFL clubs and players from the SANFL prior to the national draft. Clubs that lost players were entitled to compensation selections before both the first and second rounds of the 1996 national draft.

Uncontracted player selection

* Ian Downsborough (): compensation selections #1 ( Michael Gardiner) and #24 ( Josh Wooden) *

Gavin Wanganeen Gavin Adrian Wanganeen (born 18 June 1973) is a former Australian rules footballer and, after retirement, artist. He played for the Essendon Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), and also for the ...

(): compensation selections #2 ( Chris Heffernan) and #25 (

Andrew Bomford Andrew Bomford (born 19 July 1974) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon and the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Bomford was initially drafted by the Sydney Swans and he played 79 games for them ...

) * Matthew Primus (): compensation selections #3 ( Rory Hilton) and #26 ( Tim Notting) to * Adam Heuskes (): compensation selections #4 ( Mark Kinnear) and #27 ( Troy Cook) * Scott Cummings (): compensation selections #5 ( Daniel McAlister) and #28 ( Jason Johnson)

Zone selections

Brisbane Lions pre-draft selections

As part of the conditions of the merger between

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Bears were a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, now known as the Brisbane Lions. Granted a Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL), licence in 1986, ...

and the

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of City of Fitzroy, Fitzroy, the club is base ...

, Brisbane was able to recruit up to eight players from Fitzroy into the newly created

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions are a professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Brisbane are the ...

. * Scott Bamford * John Barker * Brad Boyd *

Nick Carter Nickolas Gene Carter (born January 28, 1980) is an American singer, the lead vocalist of the vocal group Backstreet Boys, and an alleged rapist. As of 2015, he has released three solo albums, '' Now or Never'', '' I'm Taking Off'' and '' All A ...

* Shane Clayton * Simon Hawking * Chris Johnson *

Jarrod Molloy Jarrod Molloy (born 12 May 1976) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League. A key position player, Molloy was trialled in both attack and defence as his career progressed, with most success enjoyed near the goal ...

References

* {{afldraft

AFL Draft The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft (sports), draft of unsigned players, especially new nominations, by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League ( ...

Australian Football League draft