On 25 November, Collingwood will welcome its next group of young players when the AFL holds the 31^st annual National Draft.

Collingwood Media presents all you need to know heading into Friday night’s meeting.

Which picks will we have?
Round One
Nil

Round Two
No. 28

Round Three
No. 44
No. 51

Round Four
No. 61
No. 64

What time does it start, and how can I follow it?
The 2016 National Draft will be held in Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.

It will be broadcast nationally on Fox Footy (channel 504) from 6.30pm (AEDT). The draft itself is expected to begin at approximately 7pm. Every selection will be shown live on Fox, while Melbourne radio station SEN 1116 will broadcast the event from 6.45pm.

Did you know? The Hordern Pavilion is no stranger to major AFL events. It hosted the Brownlow Medal in 1999, as won by Hawthorn’s Shane Crawford. Current Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley finished equal third, alongside Carlton’s Matthew Allan.



Nathan Buckley hands Darcy Moore his Collingwood jumper during the 2014 National Draft.

List profile by position
Tall defenders
Lynden Dunn, Lachlan Keeffe, Ben Reid

Medium/ small defenders
Jeremy Howe, Tom Langdon, Brayden Maynard, Adam Oxley, Jackson Ramsay, Matthew Scharenberg, Ben Sinclair, Josh Smith

Midfielders
Taylor Adams, James Aish, Jordan De Goey, Jack Crisp, Levi Greenwood, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Scott Pendlebury, Tom Phillips, Steele Sidebottom, Brayden Sier, Josh Thomas*, Adam Treloar, Travis Varcoe, Daniel Wells, Rupert Wills

Tall forwards
Darcy Moore, Jesse White

Medium/ small forwards
Jarryd Blair, Tim Broomhead, Ben Crocker, Jamie Elliott, Alex Fasolo, Chris Mayne

Ruckmen
Mason Cox*, Brodie Grundy

Utilities
Tyson Goldsack

* Denotes rookies

What’s our father-son situation?
It’s been 13 years since Collingwood had multiple father-son selections in the one draft.

On that occasion, it was the Shaws, Brayden and Heath, who followed in the footsteps of their famous fathers and were drafted to Victoria Park.

In 2016, it’s time for Callum Brown and Josh Daicos to endure the nervous wait as Collingwood and the remaining 17 clubs decide on their fates.

Of course, the system is far more complex in 2016 than it was in 2003. Clubs need to accumulate enough draft points to match any bids that come in for Brown or Daicos from other clubs.

Collingwood will take five picks into the draft, picks that tally more than 1500 draft points, which means it is unlikely to face any issues in matching bids to secure both players should it choose to do so.



Heath and Brayden Shaw fight for the ball during pre-season training in 2004.

The bidding system explained
Each draft pick is assigned a value (with No. 1 starting at 3000 points before reducing until pick No. 74, which has no value). This is drawn from historical player salary information.

During the National Draft, all clubs can bid for a player entering the draft under the father-son rule with any draft pick.

The club the player’s father represented, if it chooses to select the son, has to use its next one or more picks until the total points of the surrendered picks adds up to the value of the draft pick used by the bidding, less a discount (which is either 20 per cent of the bid value or 197 points, which is the equivalent to pick No. 56), whichever is greater.

If there are any points left over after the bid value is reached, the draft pick is then shuffled down the order.

The club that made the original bid then has the next selection in the draft.

For further reading, please click here.

What are the experts predicting?
“The Pies don't expect a bid to come for father-son pair Callum Brown and Josh Daicos until after their first live selection, and they have gathered enough points later in the draft to pay for the duo when they come,” AFL Media draft guru Callum Twomey says.

“There are others they have also been linked to, such as inside midfielder Jonty Scharenberg, who could be a chance to join his brother Matt at the Pies.

“The club has shown an interest in 23-year-old VFL prospect Tom Stewart too, having had success in recent seasons with mature-age pick-ups at the draft.

“Bendigo forward Kayle Kirby could also be in the mix late, or as a rookie.”

Twomey predicts Collingwood will be bumped down to pick No. 30 as a result of earlier academy bidding, choosing South Fremantle’s Shai Bolton.

“The exciting and energetic half-forward is a chance to get through to the Pies' pick, and he would bring a new element to their forward set up,” Twomey wrote in his Phantom Draft.

“Bolton can do things few others in the draft can produce. He has a great natural leap that helps him soar over and into packs, and he's just as nimble at ground level.

“He's a run-and-carry player with genuine pace (he ran the 20m sprint in 2.95 seconds) and can skip away from congestion to break the game open.”

And if not Bolton?

“Brennan Cox and Sam Walker are South Australian defenders who have been raised as chances, while they'd likely jump on Jordan Ridley if he makes it this far. Tom Stewart, the Geelong VFL player, is also a possibility.”

Do we have any future picks?
Yes.

Collingwood has third and fourth round selections for next season up its sleeve as a result of the trade that saw Jack Frost head to Brisbane.

But we’ll worry about those in twelve months’ time.

The selection over time
No. 28
2006: Chris Dawes (Sandringham U18)
71 games, 83 goals

Pick No. 44
1998: Heath Scotland (Western U18)
53 games, 12 goals

2006: Brad Dick (East Fremantle)
27 games, 32 goals

Pick No. 51
Nil

Pick No. 61
1994: Stephen Zavalas (Western U18)
0 games, 0 goals

2007: Jaxson Barham (Geelong U18)
7 games, 1 goal

Pick No. 64
1994: Robert Powell (Northern U18)
0 games, 0 goals

1995: Matthew Carr (East Fremantle)
0 games, 0 goals

*Note: Dawes (Melbourne), Scotland (Carlton), Powell (Richmond/ St Kilda) and Carr (St Kilda/ Fremantle) all went on to have successful careers elsewhere.



Chris Dawes trains during his first season at Collingwood in 2007.

15 years ago…
…the greatest National Draft of all time was held in Melbourne, with the most famous of trios – Hodge, Ball and Judd – entering football folklore when drafted with the first three picks.

Ball, as we all know, ended his career a Collingwood premiership player. But Collingwood’s best, and one of the entire draft’s most famous recruits, arrived with pick No. 58.

His name is Dane Swan. He arrived from the Calder Cannons and went on to win a Brownlow Medal, three Copeland Trophies and a premiership. You may have heard of him in the 15 years since.

Remarkably, the Magpies overlooked Swan three times on the way to pick No. 58.

They took Richard Cole at pick No. 11, Tom Davidson at No. 27 and Mark McGough and No. 43. None of the trio was on the list five years later, although McGough made his mark in his 49 game career, winning the ANZAC Day Medal in just his second game.