The priority draft pick is a type of draft selection in the Australian Football League's AFL draft. Priority draft picks are additional draft picks, located at the beginning or end of the first round, which are given only to the poorest performing teams, to provide additional help for those teams to improve on-field performances in future years. Prior to 2012, a team automatically received a priority draft pick if its win–loss record met pre-defined eligibility criteria; since 2012, priority draft picks will be awarded on a discretionary basis by the AFL commission.
The priority draft pick has been the consistent subject of controversy, as several poor-performing teams have been accused of tanking during the later part of the season to ensure that they qualify for the additional draft pick.
AFL draft At the conclusion of each AFL season, there are three AFL drafts: the National Draft, the Pre-Season Draft and the Rookie Draft. The National Draft is the most important of the drafts, as it is the primary recruitment method for prospective young players once they reach the age of 18.
In the draft, the selections are arranged into rounds, with each team having one selection per round. Selections in each round are arranged in reverse ladder position order.
Priority draft pick rules Under current AFL rules, enacted from the 2012 season onwards, a club can receive a priority draft pick at the discretion of the AFL Commission.
A formula which will assist with determining whether or not a team receives a priority draft pick, and at which round in the draft that pick will be taken, has been developed that takes into account such factors as: premiership points that a club has received over a period of years (with greater weight to recent seasons), a club's percentage (points for/points against x 100) over a period of years (another indication of on-field competitiveness, with greater weight to recent seasons), any finals appearances that a club has made in recent seasons, any premierships that a club has won in recent seasons, and a club's injury rates in each relevant season.
In 2016, the Brisbane Lions became the first club to be awarded a priority draft pick under the current rules. However, through a series of trades in that year's AFL draft, the Sydney Swans, who had finished as minor premiers in the season that had just passed and reached the Grand Final, ended up with it instead. The Swans used this pick to draft Will Hayward.
In 2025, wooden spooners received a priority draft pick, after winning only one game in the recently concluded season, which they traded to the , which had just won its second consecutive premiership.
Priority round history The draft was established in 1986 in an attempt to reduce the inherent inequities of the league under zoning, where the clubs with the most successful zones, such as Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon, were able to perennially dominate the competition, while teams with weaker zones, such as St Kilda, Sydney and Footscray, were perennially close to or at the bottom of the ladder. The draft was intended to give the weakest teams access to the best prospective players.
First priority round amendment By 1992, some of the weakest teams (e.g. Sydney Swans, Brisbane Bears and Richmond) were still enduring prolonged periods of poor performance, so the priority draft pick was introduced in the Draft of that year to further assist these teams.
In its original version: Teams received a priority draft pick if they finished with less than 20.5 premiership points (five wins) for the season. The entire priority round took place prior to the first round of the National Draft. Where more than one team participated in the same round of priority picks, selections were made in reverse ladder position order, as is the case for normal selection rounds.
It became clear, however, that a team with reasonable prospects could finish with five wins and receive a roster boosting priority draft pick as a result of an isolated poor season due to key players suffering injuries, internal dissent and/or other off-field trouble.
This situation was both unfair and counterproductive to the raison d'être of the priority pick, which was to assist consistently poor teams with minimal or no prospects to rebuild: as such, AFL made further amendments to the priority pick rules in 2006.
2006 priority round amendment From the 2006 draft, a club became eligible for a priority draft pick in the National Draft if it finished a season with fewer than 16.5 premiership points (four wins).
The location of the priority draft picks within the overall National Draft now depended upon the team's performance over the previous two years: Where the team finished with more than 16.5 premiership points in the previous season, and fewer than 16.5 premiership points in the current season, the priority draft pick was taken between the first and second rounds of the National Draft. Where the team finished with fewer than 16.5 premiership points in both seasons, the priority draft pick was taken prior to the first round of the National Draft.
Another way to describe this is that in a sequence of consecutive poor seasons, the priority draft pick in the first season would be taken after the first round, and any second or subsequent priority draft picks would be taken before the first round.
2012 priority pick reform
Despite the best efforts of the AFL, the priority draft pick became controversial in the late 2000s and early 2010s because of the potential for corruption, since it could be automatically awarded based on the performance of the club over the past two seasons with a defined cut-off point (16.5 premiership points or four wins).
In the 2012 pre-season, the AFL Commission, with the unanimous support of the 18 clubs, removed all provision for priority picks automatically based upon finishing results, with the Commission retaining the power to award priority picks on a discretionary basis.
To allow for this situation, a formula was developed that takes into account such factors as: premiership points that a club has received over a period of years (with greater weight to recent seasons), a club's percentage (points for/points against x 100) over a period of years (another indication of on-field competitiveness, with greater weight to recent seasons), any finals appearances that a club has made in recent seasons, any premierships that a club has won in recent seasons, and a club's injury rates in each relevant season.
To eliminate any perception of tanking, the formula for priority picks is kept confidential by the AFL Commission.
In 2016, the Brisbane Lions became the first club to be given a priority draft pick under the current rules, with that pick located after the first round (although ended up with the pick after the trade period).
Players selected with start of first round or first assistance priority picks
Year Pick Player ClubLadder Position19921Drew BanfieldWest Coast, pick traded from SydneySydney finished 15th with 3 wins/WCE won 1992 Premiership19922Nathan ChapmanBrisbane BearsBrisbane finished 14th with 4 wins19923Michael PriorEssendon, pick traded from SydneySydney finished 15th with 3 wins/Essendon finished 8th with 12 wins19924Justin LeppitschBrisbane BearsBrisbane finished 14th with 4 wins19931Darren GasparSydneySydney finished 15th with 1 win19932Nigel LappinBrisbane BearsBrisbane finished 13th on % with 4 wins19933Justin MurphyRichmond finished 14th with 4 wins19934Glenn GormanSydneySydney finished 15th with 1 win19942Anthony RoccaSydneySydney finished 15th with 4 wins19943Shannon GrantSydneySydney finished 15th with 4 wins19952Matthew PrimusFitzroyFitzroy finished 16th with 2 wins 1997 1 Travis Johnstone Melbourne finished 16th with 4 wins 1999 1 Josh Fraser Collingwood finished 16th with 4 wins 1999 2 Paul Hasleby Fremantle finished 15th with 5 wins 2000 1 Nick Riewoldt St Kilda finished 16th with 1 win 2001 1 Luke Hodge , pick traded from Fremantle finished 16th with 2 wins/Hawthorn finished 6th with 13 wins 2001 2 Luke Ball St Kilda finished 15th with 2 wins 2001 3 Chris Judd West Coast finished 14th with 5 wins2002N/AN/ACarlton finished 16th with 3 wins/Carlton stripped of priority pick 2003 1 Adam Cooney Western Bulldogs finished 16th with 1 win 2003 2 Andrew Walker Carlton finished 15th with 4 wins 2003 3 Colin Sylvia Melbourne finished 14th with 5 wins 2004 1 Brett Deledio Richmond finished 16th with 4 wins 2004 2 Jarryd Roughead Hawthorn finished 15th with 4 wins 2004 3 Ryan Griffen Western Bulldogs finished 14th with 5 wins 2005 1 Marc Murphy Carlton finished 16th with 4 wins 2005 2 Dale Thomas Collingwood finished 15th with 5 wins 2005 3 Xavier Ellis Hawthorn finished 14th with 5 wins2006Priority Pick Rule Adjustment200617Shaun HampsonCarlton finished 16th with 3 wins200618Leroy JettaEssendonEssendon finished 15th with 3 wins on % 2007 1 Matthew Kreuzer Carlton finished 15th with 4 wins200718Alex RanceRichmond finished 16th with 3 wins200817Sam BleaseMelbourne finished 16th win 3 wins200818Luke ShueyWest Coast finished 16th with 4 wins 2009 1 Tom Scully 2010Gold Coast enters the competition with draft concessions201026Jack DarlingWest Coast finished 16th with 4 wins2011Greater Western Sydney enters the competition with draft concessions201127Sam KerridgeAdelaide, pick traded from Gold CoastGold Coast finished 17th with 3 wins/ Adelaide finished 14th with 7 wins201128Fraser McInnes, pick traded from Port AdelaidePort Adelaide finished 16th with 3 wins on % / West Coast finished 4th with 17 wins201129Alex ForsterFremantle, pick traded from Brisbane LionsBrisbane finished 15th with 4 wins / Fremantle finished 11th with 9 wins2012Priority Pick Rule Adjustment201621Will HaywardSydney, pick traded from Brisbane LionsBrisbane Lions finished 17th with 3 wins / Sydney finished 1st with 17 wins on %2019Gold Coast assistance package - 2019 #1, #20; 2020 Mid 1st Round + Pre Draft Selections, 2021 first pick in 2nd round. 2019 1 Matthew Rowell Gold Coast finished 18th with 3 wins. Rowell won the 2025 Brownlow Medal.201922Deven RobertsonBrisbane Lions, pick traded from Gold Coast finished 18th with 3 wins. / Brisbane Lions finished 2nd with 16 wins.on %202015Connor StoneGreater Western Sydney, pick traded of pick from GeelongGold Coast finished 14th with 5 wins / GWS finished 10th with 8 wins.202121Matthew JohnsonFremantle, pick traded from Gold Coast finished 16th with 7 wins / Fremantle finished 11th with 10 wins2023North Melbourne assistance package - 2023 End of 1st Round Pick, 2x 2024 End of 1st Round Picks.202329Ashton MoirCarlton, pick traded from North Melbourne finished 17th with 3 wins / Carlton finished 5th with 13 wins202426Ned BowmanSydney, pick traded from North Melbourne finished 17th with 3 wins / Sydney finished 1st with 17 wins202427Matt WhitlockNorth Melbourne finished 17th with 3 wins
Tanking There was annual speculation that poorly performing teams manipulated their results after they were eliminated from finals contention in order to ensure they remained below the eligibility criterion and received a priority pick under the 1993-2011 format; this was referred to as "tanking."
There are a wide variety of behaviours which could be considered to be tanking. These include: Instructing the players to deliberately lose matches Employing unusual tactics in matches, including using players in positions where they do not usually play Resting star players with minor injuries, who would likely not be rested if the team were contesting finals Playing younger players who do not yet have much experience at AFL level