ROOKIE WALSH A SAFE BET

THE AFL has shelved ambitious plans to hold November’s national draft in the middle of Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium in front of thousands of fans in an NFL-style spectacle.

The AFL had originally hoped to start the new two-day draft by hosting it in the centre of the Docklands venue with up to 5000 fans on the ground and seated in bays under the Medallion Club.

The NFL and NBA drafts are raucous, hugely popular events involving fans travelling from across the country to watch the action unfold as picks are announced by club legends.

Up to 250 fans from each club would have been invited to populate a “fan zone”, with families, friends and the draftees also in the middle of the ground awaiting selections.

But after reviewing the costs involved, the league will now hold a low-key event in Marvel’s Victory Room.

Clubs will have their draft teams positioned in corporate boxes as they assess talent and decide whether to become involved in live trading, with AFL boss Gillon McLachlan to read out those picks.

The first round of the draft will be held on November 22, with the rest of the draft as well as the pre-season and rookie drafts to be held the next day.

AFL officials Josh Vanderloo, Ken Wood and Simon Murphy travelled to this year’s NFL draft to assess ideas for the AFL’s draft, with live trading of picks then introduced in August.

It is the first time clubs can trade up in the draft to secure players they have prioritised, so clubs will have five minutes per selections early in the draft.

Up to 10 father-son and academy selections will also be taken under a bidding system.

NFL and NBA fans have seen their prospective draftees for multiple years at college level, but most AFL fans still have only moderate knowledge of the players their clubs are about to draft.