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How the 2026 draft rules work

Bidding, matching, the Draft Value Index and the new bottom-five compensation pick. Every value below is read from the rule set the calculations use (afl-2026-v3), so this page cannot describe a rule the site does not apply.

The AFL announced the 2026 rules in April but has not published the rulebook behind them, so a few details are still open. Verified means an AFL source states the rule; Provisional means it does not, and the value is our reading. Every row says why and links the source.

Bidding and matching

Players tied to a club (father-son, academy and next-generation prospects) reach that club through bids. Another club bids by using a pick on the player; the tied club then either matches, paying the bid's price in pick points, or declines and lets the bidder have them.

The price starts at the bid position's Draft Value Index points and is then adjusted by where the matching club finished on the ladder.

RuleValueConfidence
Ladder 1st–2ndStated in the AFL's announcement, bid range included. Which two clubs it applies to is a separate question, covered under “What is not settled”. Source: AFL announcement+20% on bids at picks 1–18Verified
Ladder 3rd–4thStated in the AFL's announcement, including the 1–18 bid range, which the site previously had to assume (EC-05). Source: AFL announcement+10% on bids at picks 1–18Verified
Ladder 5th–10thStated in the AFL's announcement. Source: AFL announcementNo adjustmentVerified
Ladder 11th–18thStated in the AFL's announcement, including the 1–36 bid range, which the site previously had to assume (EC-06). From 2027 the band becomes 11th–19th. Source: AFL announcement-10% on bids at picks 1–36Verified
Most picks usable on a bid at pick 36 or earlierStated in the AFL's announcement. The picks must come from the current draft. Source: AFL announcement2Verified
Bids after pick 36Stated in the AFL's announcement. From 2027 the threshold moves to pick 39, the start of round three with 19 clubs. Source: AFL announcementMatched with the club's next pickVerified
Most points a club can leave owingStated in the AFL's announcement. It was 1,167 in 2025 and 1,723 in 2024. Source: AFL announcement, AFL draft explainer, 2025412 pointsVerified
Deficit requires a first-round pick next yearStated in the AFL's announcement. Source: AFL announcementYesVerified
How a deficit is repaidStated in the AFL's announcement: taken from next year's first-round pick, wherever the bid was placed. Source: AFL announcementfollowing year first roundVerified
Picks a club may holdStated in the AFL's announcement. This build warns when a club holds more, rather than refusing the move. Source: AFL announcementNo more than its open primary-list spotsVerified

The Draft Value Index

Every pick from 1 to 54 has a points value; picks after 54 are worth nothing. The curve is steep at the top, which is what makes an early bid expensive to match. The AFL publishes the table on AFL.com.au (AFL Draft Value Index, AFL draft page, archived). It has published no separate 2026 table, and its 2026 coverage prices bids with the 2025 one (AFL.com.au, 18 Aug, AFL.com.au, 17 Jun); a new table running to pick 57 arrives with Tasmania in 2027 (AFL announcement).

This build runs on the AFL's table, transcribed in full. Every points figure on the site comes from it.

Round 1Round 2Round 3
13,0001979637297
22,4812075738277
32,1782172139257
41,9622268640238
51,7952365341220
61,6592462142202
71,5432559043184
81,4432656144167
91,3552753345150
101,2762850546134
111,2052947947118
121,1403045448102
131,080314294986
141,024324055071
15973333825157
16924343605242
17879353385328
18836363175414

Bottom-five compensation

New for 2026. A club that finished in the bottom five, and whose own first-round pick was pushed back by another club's matched bid, gets an extra second-round pick, provided it used that first-round pick to select a player. It is assessed at the end of night one, once the round has happened.

RuleValueConfidence
Who can qualifyStated in the AFL's announcement, as the first of three conditions. Source: AFL announcementClubs finishing in the bottom 5Verified
How far the club's own first must slideStated in the AFL's announcement, measured from where the pick sat at the start of the draft. Source: AFL announcement1 slot or more, caused by a matched bidVerified
The pick must be used to select a playerStated in the AFL's announcement. Whether a pick spent matching a bid counts is not (EC-03, below). Source: AFL announcementYesVerified
What is awardedThe announcement says a second-round pick; the AFL's explainer says it comes at the start of that round. Exactly where in it is not settled (EC-16). Source: AFL announcement, AFL explainerOne extra second-round pickVerified
How oftenStated in the AFL's announcement. Source: AFL announcementOnce per club per yearVerified
Order when several clubs qualifyThe announcement ties each compensation pick to the club's finishing position. Source: AFL announcementfinishing positionVerified
Tradeable after night oneStated in the AFL's announcement, from the trade window before night two. A club with a full primary list must trade the pick then or lose it. The site does not model the forfeit. Source: AFL announcementYesVerified

What is not settled

These are the questions the AFL's published material does not answer. They were researched again on 25 September 2026 against everything the AFL and the clubs have published; each has a default chosen to be the least surprising, and a row in the project's edge-case register saying what evidence would settle it.

QuestionWhat the site doesConfidenceRegister
Do the loadings follow the ladder or the finals?The announcement says “ladder finishing position”, but AFL.com.au reads it as the finals result: grand finalists +20%, preliminary finalists +10%. Its own worked example only adds up if Brisbane, 2025 premiers but third on the ladder, pays the top-two loading (picks 14 and 15 to match a pick-6 bid). This build follows the AFL's reading. In 2026 it loads Brisbane 20% and Sydney 10%; the ladder reading would do the reverse. Source: AFL announcement, AFL.com.au, 28 Apr, AFL explainer, AFL.com.au, 18 AugThe finals result: grand finalists 1st–2nd, preliminary finalists 3rd–4thProvisionalEC-15EC-15
Rounding at each stepThe AFL has published no rounding rule. Its own figures round to the nearest point (pick 2 less 10% is 2,232.9, reported as 2,233), and the site does the same. Both the precise and the rounded value are shown wherever one is used. Source: AFL.com.au, 17 Jun, AFL Draft Value Indexround half up integerProvisionalEC-01EC-01
Where a residual pick landsNot restated for 2026. The long-standing practice is that the last pick used slides back to the position its leftover points are worth; Adelaide's 2015 worked example lands exactly where this rule does. Labelled an estimate, because later events still move it. Source: Adelaide FC, 2015best pick affordable by unused pointsProvisionalEC-02EC-02
Does a first spent as currency count as “used to select”?Unresolved. The announcement's condition is that the club uses the pick to select a player, and nothing public says whether spending it on a bid counts. The reading in use is labelled on every compensation result. Source: AFL announcementNo (strict)ProvisionalEC-03EC-03
Is the deficit cap per club or per bid?The announcement describes one allowable deficit for the draft, which reads as a club-wide total, but never says so outright. Coverage so far only discusses one bid per club. Source: AFL announcementclub cumulative per draftProvisionalEC-04EC-04
Where round 1 ends once matched bids stretch itNot addressed publicly. The AFL's explainer only expects a shorter first round than in recent years and a longer second. Source: AFL explainerround membership travels with picksProvisionalEC-07EC-07
Ladder to draft order under the 10-team wildcard finalsPicks 1–8 going to the non-finalists by reverse ladder is confirmed, as is wildcard losers picking next. What is not published is how clubs knocked out in the same week are separated. The site uses reverse ladder, which puts Adelaide at 13 and Geelong at 14. Those are the picks reported for Adelaide after its semi-final. Source: AFL.com.au, 26 Aug, AFL, Wildcard Round, ABC News, 14 Sep, Wikipediareverse ladder then finals exitProvisionalEC-08EC-08
Where a free agency compensation pick in “the second round” or “the third round” goesThe AFL places a free agency compensation pick in one of five places: “first round (immediately following that club's current selection), end of first round, second round, end of second round, or third round”. Only the first says where in the round; the site reads the plain second- and third-round places the same way. Two picks at the end of the same round follow the order the AFL announced them. Each placement is checked against the pick number the AFL gives when it announces the pick. Source: AFL trade period explainer, 2025Straight after the club's own pick in that roundProvisionalEC-17EC-17
Where each compensation pick sits in round 2The AFL's explainer says “at the start of the second round”; an AFL.com.au report the day before says the extra pick follows the club's own selection there. Both fit the announcement, and they give different pick numbers. Source: AFL explainer, AFL.com.au, 28 Aprstart of round 2, together, in finishing orderProvisionalEC-16EC-16

Glossary

live pick

Where a pick sits in the order right now, after every trade, match and insertion so far.

A live position is not a property of a pick. It comes from the whole order, and it changes whenever a pick is inserted or removed ahead of it. That is why the order is recalculated after every change instead of storing pick numbers.

See also original pick, projected pick

original pick

The club a pick was generated for, which never changes even after the pick is traded.

A pick is named for the club that earned it. Carlton's first-round pick is still called Carlton's first-round pick however many times it is traded, which is what makes a trade history readable.

See also live pick

projected pick

A pick position estimated from an unfinished ladder, rather than one that is settled.

Before the season ends, every pick number is a projection from the current ladder. Anything worked out this way is labelled, because a projected pick 7 and a final pick 7 are different claims.

See also live pick

Draft Value Index

The AFL's points value for each pick, used to price a matched bid.

Points attach to picks 1–54 only; anything later is worth nothing. The curve is steep at the top (pick 1 is worth nearly twice pick 6), which is what makes an early bid so expensive to match.

See also bid, match

bid

Another club using its pick on a player tied to you, forcing you to match or decline.

A bid is how tied players (father-son, academy and NGA prospects) reach the club they are tied to. The bid sets the price; the tied club chooses whether to pay it.

See also match, decline

match

Paying the bid's price in pick points to take the player instead of the bidding club.

The price comes from the bid's position on the Draft Value Index, adjusted by the matching club's ladder band. The club hands over picks until the price is covered.

See also Draft Value Index, loading and discount, residual, deficit

decline

Choosing not to pay, which lets the bidding club select the player with that pick.

See also bid, match

loading and discount

A percentage added to or taken off a bid's price, set by where the matching club finished on the ladder.

Clubs that finished near the top pay a loading; clubs near the bottom get a discount. The bands and the bid ranges they apply to come from the ruleset, not from the code.

See also match, Draft Value Index

residual

A new late pick a club gets back when the picks it paid with were worth more than the bid's price.

You cannot pay a 2,481-point bid with exactly 2,481 points, so the leftover is converted into a pick roughly worth what is left over. Its position is an estimate until the rest of the order settles.

See also match, Draft Value Index

deficit

Points a club still owes after a match, taken off its first-round pick in next year's draft.

A club can go into deficit rather than find the points this year, up to a cap, and only if it holds its own first-round pick next year. Next year's pick then slides back by whatever the debt is worth.

See also match, Draft Value Index

compensation pick

An extra second-round pick for a bottom-five club whose own first-rounder was pushed back by a matched bid.

Assessed at the end of night one, once the round has been played. Every condition has to hold, so each one is shown separately instead of a single yes or no.

See also match, night one

night one

The first night of the national draft, which covers round 1 including anything inserted into it.

Where round 1 ends matters: it decides which picks count for compensation and where compensation picks are inserted. Matched bids stretch the round, and round membership travels with the picks.

See also compensation pick

data snapshot

The dated set of ladder, pick-ownership and prospect facts a scenario started from.

Recording it is what lets a scenario made in August still be read in November: the numbers are relative to a stated starting point rather than to whatever was true when you opened it.

Sources

Everything above is drawn from these, each read in full. AFL.com.au is the league's own site, and only it can make a rule Verified; the others are cited where the AFL is silent. Where sources disagree, the difference is recorded as a provisional interpretation rather than resolved quietly.