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Harley Reid with Nic Naitanui after being selected by West Coast with pick one in the 2023 AFL draft. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
The 2023 AFL Draft began on Monday, November 20 and concluded on Wednesday , November 22.
Night one saw the first round of draft picks selected, with night two featuring all other selections, while the final night will feature the pre-season and rookie drafts.
Victorian young gun Harley Reid, as expected, was taken by the West Coast Eagles with their prized pick 1.
Check out the full draft order here.
2023 AFL National Draft order
Round 1
Pick
Club
Player
1
West Coast
Harley Reid
2
North Melbourne
Colby McKercher
3
Gold Coast
Jed Walter
4
North Melbourne
Zane Duursma
5
Hawthorn
Nick Watson
6
Western Bulldogs
Ryley Sanders
7
Melbourne
Caleb Windsor
8
Adelaide
Daniel Curtin
9
Gold Coast
Ethan Read
10
Essendon
Nate Caddy
11
Geelong
Connor O’Sullivan
12
GWS
Phoenix Gothard
13
Melbourne
Koltyn Tholstrup
14
Gold Coast
Jake Rogers
15
Western Bulldogs
Jordan Croft
16
Sydney
Will Green
17
GWS
James Leake
18
St Kilda
Darcy Wilson
19
Hawthorn
Will McCabe
20
North Melbourne
Taylor Goad
21
Adelaide
Charlie Edwards
22
North Melbourne
Wil Dawson
23
North Melbourne
Riley Hardeman
24
Sydney
Caiden Cleary
25
Collingwood
Harry DeMattia
26
Gold Coast
Will Graham
27
Adelaide
Oscar Ryan
28
St Kilda
Lance Collard
29
Carlton
Ashton Moir
Round 2
Pick
Club
Player
30
West Coast
Archer Reid
31
Brisbane
Logan Morris
32
Geelong
Mitch Edwards
33
St Kilda
Angus Hastie
34
Carlton
Billy Wilson
35
Fremantle
Cooper Simpson
36
Geelong
Shaun Mannagh
37
Collingwood
Tew Jiath
38
West Coast
Clay Hall
39
Essendon
Luamon Lual
40
Richmond
Kane McAuliffe
41
Fremantle
Ollie Murphy
42
Brisbane
Luke Lloyd
43
Richmond
Liam Fawcett
44
GWS
Joseph Fonti
Round 3
Pick
Club
Player
45
Western Bulldogs
Joel Freijah
46
Hawthorn
Bodie Ryan
47
Western Bulldogs
Lachlan Smith
48
Port Adelaide
Thomas Anastasopoulos
49
West Coast
Harvey Johnston
50
St Kilda
Hugo Garcia
51
Brisbane
Zane Zakostelsky
52
Port Adelaide
Lachlan Charleson
Round 4 onwards
Pick
Club
Player
53
Sydney
Patrick Snell
54
Essendon
Archie Roberts
55
Western Bulldogs
Aiden O’Driscoll
56
Hawthorn
Calsher Dear
57
Port Adelaide
Will Lorenz
58
Geelong
George Stevens
59
GWS
Harvey Thomas
60
Fremantle
Jack Delean
61
Geelong
Oliver Wiltshire
62
St Kilda
Arie Schoenmaker
63
Geelong
Lawson Humphries
64
Brisbane
Reece Torrent
National Draft Picks by club
Adelaide
8, 21, 27
Brisbane
31, 42, 51, 64
Carlton
29, 34
Collingwood
25, 37
Essendon
10, 39, 54
Fremantle
35, 41, 60
Geelong
11, 32, 36, 58, 61, 63
Gold Coast
3, 9, 14, 26
GWS
12, 17, 44, 59
Hawthorn
5, 19, 46, 56
Melbourne
7, 13
North Melbourne
2, 4, 20, 22, 23
Port Adelaide
48, 52, 57
Richmond
40, 43
St Kilda
18, 28, 33, 50, 62
Sydney
16, 24, 53
West Coast
1, 30, 38, 49
Western Bulldogs
6, 15, 45, 47, 55
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2023 AFL Rookie Draft order
Round 1
Pick
Club
Player
1
West Coast
Loch Rawlinson
2
North Melbourne
Finnbar Maley
3
Hawthorn
Cooper Stephens*
4
Gold Coast
Sam Clohesy
5
Fremantle
Odin Jones
6
Richmond
Pass
7
Geelong
Emerson Jeka
8
Essendon
Vigo Visentini
9
Adelaide
Will Hamill*
10
Western Bulldogs
Lachie McNeil*
11
Sydney
Sam Reid*
12
Melbourne
Jake Melksham*
13
Port Adelaide
Xavier Walsh
14
GWS
Adam Kennedy*
15
Carlton
Matt Carroll
16
Collingwood
Pass
Round 2
Pick
Club
Player
17
North Melbourne
Pass
18
Gold Coast
Will Rowlands
19
Fremantle
Pass
20
Adelaide
James Borlase*
21
Western Bulldogs
Taylor Duryea*
22
Melbourne
Kynan Brown
23
Collingwood
Pass
Round 3
Pick
Club
Player
24
Gold Coast
Jack Mahony
25
Western Bulldogs
Pass
26
Melbourne
Pass
27
Collingwood
Pass
Round 4
Pick
Club
Player
28
Gold Coast
Pass
Round 5
Pick
Club
Player
29
Gold Coast
Pass
* Delisted and re-drafted as a rookie
2023 AFL Pre-Season Draft order
Pick
Club
Player
1
Hawthorn
Chad Wingard*
2
Gold Coast
Sam Day*
3
St Kilda
Riley Bonner
* Delisted and re-drafted
History Back in its VFL days, the national draft was introduced in 1981, allowing the Victorian teams to acquire interstate players depending on where they finished on the ladder.
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It has since been expanded to include players from all locations, and is now the primary source of new talent for every AFL club.
The draft order is determined each year by awarding the clubs their draft picks in reverse finishing order – the club that finished last receives the first pick, and so on.
However, these picks can then change hands during the trade period and the final draft order is often quite different to the original one released after the end of the season.
After originally being held in 1981 and 1982, the draft was then not held again until 1986, but has been held in some form every year since.
For much of its early history, it was held in Victoria each year, but in recent times it has regularly been held interstate.
The draft was brought to the Gold Coast for the 2010 event, then to Sydney for 2011, and then returned to Gold Coast for several years, before being moved to Adelaide in 2015 and to Sydney again in 2016, and was then shifted around the country during the COVID years.
The draft has returned to Melbourne for 2022 and 2023.
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The No.1 draft pick is always a prized possession, though clubs have gotten smarter about using it in modern times than they were in the past.
1987 No.1 pick Richard Lounder, for example, only ever played four games for his club, Richmond. But in recent times No.1 picks like Nick Riewoldt, Luke Hodge and Adam Cooney have won premierships, Brownlows, and become legends of the game.
In the table below is every No.1 draft pick in VFL/AFL history, from 1981 onwards.
