2006 Draft Camp

The AFL world once again turns its attention to the nation’s capital this Wednesday as 72 of the country’s hottest young prospects head to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra for the NAB AFL Draft Camp.

With the 2006 National Draft less than two months away, time is running out for potential draftees to catch the eye of recruiters. It has been said again and again that this year’s talent pool is one of the deepest ever and recruiters will be looking to the draft camp to split the difference any number of ways.

Adelaide senior coach Neil Craig believes the distance and endurance testing is of critical importance with such stars as Luke Ball and Chris Judd having excelled in these areas in the past.

2006 NAB Rising Star winner Danyle Pearce dominated the sprint and agility tests two years ago but was incredibly passed over by every AFL club. He eventually ended up at Port Adelaide via the Rookie Draft prompting AFL talent manager Kevin Sheehan to state; “If we’re going to improve as an industry we’ve got to start taking notice of these obvious selections.”

The purpose of the camp is to allow clubs an up close and personal view of the potential recruits as they conduct interviews, medical, fitness and agility tests; analysing everything from hand span to vertical leap.

The draft camp is having a huge impact on the accuracy and relevance of the National Draft with the nomination process alone a great guide to the top talent in the country. To attend the draft camp young players have to be nominated by an AFL club with those receiving nominations from less than 4 differnt clubs tested later at state screenings. This year 72 players will be in Canberra with another 114 to be tested in the state screenings.

The end result is that the draft is a far cry from the lottery it once was.

Today the National Draft as a whole and the first round in particular is producing excellent results and the draft camp has made a huge contribution to this success.

In 2005, 47 youngsters found their way from the draft camp to AFL senior lists with a further 14 taken as rookies. 26 also found an AFL home from the state screenings.

Current AFL players draft camp records:

Tom Rischbieth (Port Adelaide) 3km Time Trial 9:30 minutes
Tom Rischbieth (Port Adelaide) Beep Test: level 15.08
Trent Croad (Hawthorn) Standing Vertical Jump: 83cm
Jared Brennan (Brisbane Lions) Running Vertical jump: 102cm.
Danyle Pearce (Port Adelaide) 20m Sprint: 2.29 seconds
Danyle Pearce (Port Adelaide) Agility Test: 7.79 seconds