Get everything you need to know, including how to watch ahead of the 2026 Telstra AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft on Tuesday, 26 May.
What is the AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft?
The Mid-Season Rookie Draft (MSD) is the only chance clubs have during the season to add players to their list. Outside the Trade Period and Telstra AFL Drafts at the end of each season, the only opportunities clubs have to sign new players is during the Pre-Season Supplemental Selection Period – which runs over summer – and the MSD.
The MSD was reintroduced in 2019, having been scrapped way back in 1993. It's designed to limit the impact long-term injuries and premature retirements can have on a club and allow teams to replenish their list for the second half of the season.
When is it?
The MSD is normally held on a Wednesday night, but this year will be on Tuesday 26 May, between rounds 11 and 12, from 6.30pm AEST.
How can I watch?
The only place to watch the 2026 AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft is on AFL.com.au and the AFL Live Official App, or on the AFL's official YouTube channel. Gettable co-hosts and draft experts Cal Twomey and Riley Beveridge will lead the coverage along with host Nat Edwards from 6.30pm AEST on Tuesday May 26. See every pick as it happens and get instant analysis of what the new signings can mean for the second half of the season.
How is the draft order decided?
Like the National Draft, the Mid-Season Draft order is determined by reverse ladder position. The team at the bottom of the ladder after round 11 (assuming it has a list vacancy) gets the No.1 pick, with the second-last team to have the No.2 pick, and so on.
The final draft order is below.
Round 1
1. Essendon
2. Richmond
3. West Coast
4. Carlton
5. Port Adelaide
6. North Melbourne
7. St Kilda
8. Collingwood
9. Western Bulldogs
10. Adelaide
11. Melbourne
12. Hawthorn
Round 2
13. West Coast
14. Port Adelaide
15. Collingwood
16. Melbourne
Round 3
17. Port Adelaide
18. Collingwood
19. Melbourne
What are the Pies looking for?
Unfortunate season-ending injuries to Jamie Elliott, Reef McInnes and Oscar Steene have vacated three spots on the Pies’ list.
With McInnes and Elliott occupying either end of the ground and Steene a ruck, it is all areas that the black and white will be looking for when they use their sections on Tuesday.
Last year the Pies took gun runner Roan Steele and key tall Noah Howes, while in 2024 it was midfield bull Ned Long who earnt himself an elevation from the Pies' VFL list, taken alongside young ruck Iliro Smit.
