The 1996 AFL draft 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 AFL draft 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.
Brett James from Collingwood for Jonathon Ross
Trent Ormond-Allen from Melbourne for draft pick #83
Clay Sampson from Melbourne for Nick Pesch
Tim Cook and Aaron Keating from Port Adelaide for Scott Hodges
Nick Laidlaw from Port Adelaide for David Brown
Barry Standfield from Western Bulldogs for draft picks #32 and #47
Ben Nelson and Andrew Balkwill from Port Adelaide for Brent Heaver
Mick McGuane from Collingwood for draft picks #19 and #65
Anthony Rocca from Sydney for Ben Wilson, Mark Orchard and draft picks #14 and #33
John R. Barnett from North Melbourne for draft pick #70
Richard Osbourne from Western Bulldogs for draft pick #61
Jonathon Ross from Adelaide for Brett James
Hamish Simpson and Cameron Roberts from Port Adelaide for draft pick #37
Tim Hargreaves from Hawthorn for Aaron Lord
Aaron Lord from Geelong for Tim Hargreaves
Justin Crawford from Sydney for David McEwan and draft pick #17
Kent Kingsley and Wade Kingsley from Port Adelaide for Paul Geister
Nick Pesch from Adelaide for Clay Sampson
Shane Bond and Brayden Lyle from West Coast for draft pick #57
Shayne Breuer from Geelong for Hamish Simpson, Cameron Roberts and draft picks #8 and 43
David Brown from Adelaide for Nick Laidlaw
Paul Geister from North Melbourne for Kent Kingsley and Wade Kingsley
Brent Heaver from Carlton for Ben Nelson and Andrew Balkwill
Scott Hodges from Adelaide for Aaron Keating and Tim Cook
For zone and uncontracted player selections see below
Trent Nichols from North Melbourne for draft pick #50
Troy Gray from Sydney for draft pick #34
Mark Orchard and Ben Wilson from Collingwood for Anthony Rocca
David McEwan from Hawthorn for Justin Crawford
Ilija Grgic from Western Bulldogs for Luke Trew and draft pick #20
Simon Minton-Connell from Hawthorn for draft pick #29
Luke Trew from West Coast for Ilija Grgic
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 Collingwood, Melbourne and Essendon selected a full complement, whilst Brisbane Lions and St Kilda declined to take part.
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.
Ian Downsborough (West Coast): compensation selections #1 (Michael Gardiner) and #24 (Josh Wooden)
Gavin Wanganeen (Essendon): compensation selections #2 (Chris Heffernan) and #25 (Andrew Bomford)
Matthew Primus (Fitzroy): compensation selections #3 (Rory Hilton) and #26 (Tim Notting) to Brisbane Lions
Adam Heuskes (Sydney): compensation selections #4 (Mark Kinnear) and #27 (Troy Cook)
Scott Cummings (Essendon): compensation selections #5 (Daniel McAlister) and #28 (Jason Johnson)
As part of the conditions of the merger between Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Football Club, Brisbane was able to recruit up to eight players from Fitzroy into the newly created Brisbane Lions.
Scott Bamford
John Barker
Brad Boyd
Nick Carter
Shane Clayton
Simon Hawking
Chris Johnson
Jarrod Molloy
