ON FRIDAY night, up to 75 young players will have their dreams realised when they are selected in this year's NAB AFL Draft.
If 2015 is any guide, 62 per cent of those players (43 of 69) will go on to make their AFL debuts the following season.
And, for a lucky 26 per cent of players, again using last season as a marker, they will play senior football from the very first round.
Six of the 10 players who were selected in the top 10 of last year's draft played in round one, led by No.1 overall selection Jacob Weitering.
From his very first contest at the Blues, Weitering looked right at home, displaying the poise and concise decision-making of a 200-game veteran.
Josh Schache (pick No.2), Callum Mills (No.3), Clayton Oliver (No.4), Darcy Parish (No.5) and Callum Ah Chee (No.8) also achieved that feat.
Nine of the top 10 players selected (including Aaron Francis, Jacob Hopper and Sam Weideman) played senior football in 2016.
Carlton's Harry McKay, having been hampered by a back injury, was the only top-10 selection not to take the field last season.
Wayne Milera (pick No.11), Daniel Rioli (No.15), Jade Gresham (No.18), Josh Dunkley (No.25) and Marcus Adams (No.35) were the other players taken in the 2015 national draft to make their debuts in round one.
Mills, the NAB AFL Rising Star winner, played 22 of a possible 26 games in his debut season for Sydney to lead all draftees for matches played.
Essendon's Mitch Brown, who made his club debut for the Bombers in round one, was the only player of the 70 taken in last year's draft with previous AFL experience.
Gold Coast, Richmond, Hawthorn and the premiership-winning Western Bulldogs were the only teams to blood every single one of their national draftees in 2016.
In other interesting draft snippets:
- 25 of the 43 first-time draftees who played senior football in 2016 made their debuts in the first 10 rounds of the season
- Five players made their debuts in round 20 or later
- The average number of games played in 2016 by first-time draftees from the 2015 draft was six
- Three of the 43 first-time draftees played 20 games or more
- 19 of the 43 played 10 games or more
The rookie draft is a little more hit and miss.
Of the 63 players taken in the 2016 rookie draft, 44 were first-time draftees.
Only 14 of those 44 (31 per cent) made their debuts in 2016, with 31 of the 63 taken in the rookie draft failing to play a senior game last season.
However, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti (Essendon) and Tom Papley (Sydney) – both taken in the rookie draft – were among the players to make their debuts in round one, with the aggressive Bomber going on to play 21 games.
Papley proved to be something of a finals wildcard, kicking nine goals from his four finals matches as he established himself in Sydney's best 22.
Now it's time to see what the players in this year's draft pool can produce, as the clubs converge on the harbour city to find the next Mills or Weitering.
