The 2018 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) traded and recruited players following the completion of the 2018 AFL season.

For the first time, the AFL draft featured live trading of picks and was held over two days, with the first round held on the evening of Thursday, 22 November and the remainder of the draft being held on Friday, 23 November The draft was held in Victoria for the first time since 2009.

Key dates + Table of key datesEventDate(s)Free agency period 5–12 October (restricted and unrestricted)1–8 November, 10–16 November, 23 November (delisted)Trade period 8–17 October (players and selections)18 October–16 November (selections only)National draft 22 November (first round)23 November (second and subsequent rounds)Rookie draft23 November Pre-season supplemental selection period 1 December-15 March

Player movements Previous trades Since 2015, clubs have been able to trade future picks in the next year's national draft during the trade period. As a result, a total of 29 selections for the 2018 draft were traded during the 2017 trade period, and the selection order for each of these picks is tied to the original club's finishing position in the 2018 season.

+ Table of previously traded selectionsNew ClubAcquired via1 Jake Lever trade Pick swap2 Bryce Gibbs trade Pick swap Pick swap Nathan Wilson trade Pick swap Adam Saad trade Gary Ablett trade Devon Smith trade Sam Murray trade3 Bryce Gibbs trade via (Logan Austin trade)on-traded to (pick swap) Brandon Matera trade Jake Lever trade Devon Smith trade Pick swap Sam Murray trade Pick swap via (Brendon Ah Chee trade)on-traded to (pick swap)4 Darcy Lang trade Gary Ablett trade Hayden Crozier trade via (Harrison Wigg trade)on-traded to (Aaron Young trade)on-traded to (pick swap) Logan Austin trade via (Jarman Impey trade)on-traded to (Brendon Ah Chee trade) Jake Lever trade

Free agency

+ 2018 AFL free agency period signings Player Date Free agent type Former club New club Compensation Ref Unrestricted None Unrestricted Restricted Restricted Unrestricted Delisted None Delisted None Delisted None Delisted None Delisted None

received an end of second round compensation pick for Reece Conca, however this pick was withdrawn due to Tom Lynch signing with them

Trades

+ 2018 AFL trade period Date No. Player(s) Traded from Traded to Traded for Ref 1 2 third round pick () third round pick () 3 (South Adelaide) 4 5 (Sturt) third round pick () fifth round pick ()6 fourth round pick () 7 8 9 fourth round pick () fourth round pick () 10 third round pick () 11 second round pick () 12 Dean Kent 13 14 second round pick () 15 16 17 third round pick () fourth round pick () 18 fourth round pick () 19 20 21 fourth round pick () 22 fourth round pick ()23 third round pick () fourth round pick ()24 third round pick ()25 first round pick () second round pick () third round pick ()26 27 28 29 30 31 fourth round pick () 32 33 34 third round pick () 35 36 fourth round pick () 37 second round pick (GWS) first round pick () 38 fourth round pick () 39 first round pick ()40 (1st Round)41 third round pick () 42 second round pick () 43 first round pick () first round pick ()(2nd Round onwards)44 fifth round pick () 45 fifth round pick () second round pick ()46 47 third round pick () 48 third round pick () 49 fourth round pick () 50 fourth round pick () fourth round pick (GWS)51 fifth round pick ()52 fourth round pick () fifth round pick ()53 fourth round pick ()54 fourth round pick ()

Retirements and delistings

+ Table key † Retired, effective immediately ‡ Retired, effective at the end of the season R Rookie listed player B Category B Rookie listed player

+ Table of player retirements and delistingsDateNameClubStatus Retired † Retired † Retired † Retired † B Retired † Retired † Retired † Retired † Retired † Retired † Retired † Retired ‡ Retired † Delisted Retired ‡ Retired † R Delisted Retired † Retired † Retired ‡ Retired R Delisted B Delisted Delisted R Delisted Delisted B Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted R Delisted B Delisted Delisted R Delisted B Delisted R Delisted Delisted R Delisted R Delisted Delisted Delisted Retired ‡ Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted R Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted R Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted R Retired Delisted R Retired Retired Retired Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted B Delisted Delisted Retired Retired B Delisted Retired Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted R Delisted R Delisted B Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted Delisted Retired Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted Delisted Retired Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted Retired Delisted Delisted Delisted R Delisted Delisted Delisted Retired Delisted Delisted R Delisted Delisted Delisted Retired

Pre-draft selections

Prior to the draft, the two bottom teams and applied for Priority Picks in the National Draft, which the AFL denied. However, were granted pre-draft access to up to three and up to two mature-aged State League players each, these selections could be traded to other clubs.

+ Table of pre-draft selections Player Club Recruited from Notes Club League South Adelaide SANFL Traded to for Pick 43 Sturt SANFL Traded to as part of Mitch McGovern trade VFL West Adelaide SANFL VFL

2018 national draft

Indicative draft order as of 21 November 2018

+ Table of national draft selections Round Pick Player Club Recruited from Notes Club League 1 1 Geelong Falcons TAC Cup 2 SANFL 3 SANFL Free Agency compensation pick (Lynch) 4 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup 5 SANFL Traded from 6 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup Traded from Melb; received from Freo, Bris, Port, Freo 7 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup 8 North Launceston TSL Next Gen. Academy (Indigenous) - North matched Crows bid. 9 Launceston TSL 10 UNSW-Eastern Sub. AFL Syd. Academy selection 11 GWS Giants Bendigo Pioneers TAC Cup Traded from 12 Western Jets TAC Cup 13 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Next Generation Academy selection (Ghanaian descent) 14 GWS Giants Central District SANFL Traded from Freo; received from Port, N.M. 15 WAFL 16 Geelong Falcons TAC Cup Traded from 17 Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup Traded from 18 Gippsland Power TAC Cup Traded from 19 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup Traded from at the draft; received from 20 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup 21 Ely Smith Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup Traded from 22 GWS Giants Western Jets TAC Cup Traded from Freo; received from Bris, Suns, WCE 23 Jez McLennan SANFL Traded from at the draft; Free Agency compo pick (Lycett) 2 24 GWS Giants WAFL Traded from at the draft; received from 25 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Traded from at the draft; received from 26 Calder Cannons TAC Cup Father–son selection (son of Scott West) 27 SANFL Traded from Freo; received from Port, St k 28 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 29 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Father–son selection (son of Craig Kelly) 30 Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 31 WAFL Traded from at the draft; received from Carl, W.B. 32 Luke Valente SANFL Traded from W.Bulldogs at the draft; Free Agency compo pick (Dahlhaus) 33 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Traded from St K; received from Syd, Carl, Adel 34 GWS Giants Pennant Hills AFL Syd. Academy selection 35 Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup Traded from at the draft; received from 36 GWV Rebels TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 37 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup Traded from Freo at the draft; received from North 38 Gippsland Power TAC Cup Traded from GWS; N.G. Academy eligible for , but they passed. 39 WAFL Next Generation Academy selection (Indigenous) 40 Tom Joyce WAFL Traded from ; received from 41 Calder Cannons TAC Cup Traded from 42 Connor McFadyen Wilston Grange QAFL Academy selection 43 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup 3 44 Northern Knights TAC Cup Traded from ; received from 45 Williamstown VFL Traded from Freo at the draft; received from GWS, Carl, Geel, Bris 46 Calder Cannons TAC Cup Traded from at the draft 47 WAFL Traded from ; received from 48 SANFL 49 Broadbeach QAFL Father–son selection (son of Robert Scott) 50 Jacob Kennerley SANFL Traded from ; received from 51 Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup 52 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup 53 Aaron Nietschke SANFL 54 VFL Traded from N.M. at the draft; received from Freo, Bris, Geel, Rich 55 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Traded from 4 56 VFL Traded from N.M.; received from Syd, Geel, Bris 57 Williamstown VFL Traded from at the draft; received from 58 Fraser Turner Clarence TSL Traded from 59 Williamstown VFL Traded from Melb; received from St K, Adel, Suns, Port 60 Noah Gown Gippsland Power TAC Cup 61 GWS Giants Geelong Falcons TAC Cup Traded from at the draft; received from 62 Luke English WAFL Traded from ; received from Suns, N.M. 63 Mathew Walker Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup Traded from Coll at the draft; Academy eligible for GWS, but they passed. 64 Calder Cannons TAC Cup Traded from at the draft; received from 65 SANFL Traded from 66 Finbar O'Dwyer Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup Traded from 67 SANFL Traded from Carlton at the draft; received from Adel, Melb 68 Jake Tarca SANFL Traded from at the draft 69 Joel Crocker Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup Father–son eligible (son of Darren Crocker) 5 70 Ben Silvagni Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Father–son eligible (son of Stephen Silvagni) 71 Palm Beach Currumbin QAFL Traded from 72 Geelong Falcons TAC Cup 73 Riley Grundy SANFL 74 Oscar Brownless Geelong Falcons TAC Cup Father–son eligible (son of Billy Brownless) 75 Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup Next Generation Academy eligible (Indigenous) 76 SANFL 77 Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup Next Generation Academy eligible (born in Fiji) 78 Footscray VFL

Rookie elevations Clubs were able to promote any player who was listed on their rookie list in 2018 to their 2019 primary playing list prior to the draft.

+ Player Club

2019 rookie draft

+ Table of rookie draft selections Round Pick Player Club Recruited from Notes Club League 1 1 AFL 2 AFL 3 SANFL 4 AFL 5 AFL 6 Dandenong Stingrays TAC Cup 7 Port Melbourne VFL 8 VFL 9 Tobin Cox SANFL 10 Tom McKenzie Northern Knights TAC Cup 11 VFL 12 WAFL 13 Passed — — 14 WAFL 15 SANFL 16 VFL 17 AFL 18 WAFL 2 19 AFL 20 AFL 21 AFL 22 WAFL 23 SANFL 24 AFL 25 AFL 26 Cam Hewett AFL 27 AFL 28 Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup 29 Passed — — 30 Will Golds Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup 31 Passed — — 32 AFL 33 AFL 34 AFL 3 35 Passed — — 36 AFL 37 AFL 38 Passed — — 39 Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup 40 Passed — — 41 Tom Wilkinson Southport NEAFL 42 AFL Tippett retired on 22 January 2018, but was retained on Sydney's 2019 list due to a contractual settlement. 43 AFL 44 Passed — — 45 AFL 46 Passed — — 3 47 Harrison Wigg AFL 48 Passed — — 49 AFL Langford retired on 30 October 2018, but was retained on Hawthorn's 2019 list due to a contractual settlement. 50 Passed — — 4 51 Passed — — 52 Passed — —

Category B rookie selections Clubs were able to nominate category B rookies to join their club in 2019.