This article originally appeared on womens.afl
THE UPCOMING AFLW Draft will be held on Tuesday April 4, with the League confirming only mature-aged players will be available.
As reported by womens.afl last October, this draft will feature only players born in 2004 or prior and is designed to be a stop-gap measure after two seasons were held in 2022 due to the competition's re-alignment from summer to spring.
The majority of the best 2004-born talent, like Montana Ham and Jasmine Fleming, was already selected in the draft last June, prior to the second season of last year.
April's draft will be known as the 'AFLW Season Eight Supplementary Draft'.
It was confirmed last week that players would have the option to nominate for either a national pool or their home state. Tasmanians have the option of choosing North Melbourne (due to an alliance), a specific state or the national pool, while Northern Territorians have the latter two options.
Clubs will not have to take a minimum of three list spots into the draft, as has been the case in previous years, with some potentially not participating at all given the reduced talent pool.
The draft order will be confirmed on Friday, March 24. In previous years, the basis of the draft order has been the reverse ladder order, meaning theoretically, Sydney would have pick No.1 if it has a spot on offer.
Train-on players are expected to feature heavily, with some clubs keen to stick to what they already know, while state-league talent and former AFLW players are also in the mix.
The SANFLW will play seven rounds before April's draft, with four weeks of the WAFLW and two weeks of the VFLW to have also been completed by April 4. The QAFLW will not have started, while both AFL Sydney and Canberra are yet to confirm their season dates.
Players born in 2005 (who, for the most part, are completing year 12 this year) will be eligible for the draft ahead of the 2024 AFLW season.
The new Priority Signing Period will open on Wednesday at 9am AEDT, closing at 2pm on Wednesday, March 8, with compensation to be determined the following day.
Key AFLW player movement dates
Wednesday March 1, 9am
AFLW Priority Signing Period opens
Wednesday March 8, 2pm
AFLW Priority Signing Period closes
Thursday March 9
PSP compensation determined
Friday March 10, 12pm
Sign and Trade period commences
Rookie signing period commences
Wednesday March 15, 9am
AFLW Season Eight Supplementary Draft nominations open
Friday March 17, 5pm
Final date for players on a two-year (2022/2023) contract to accept or decline their 2023 offer
Monday March 20
Final date for clubs to offer a contract to existing players (11am)
Sign and Trade Period, Restricted Free Agency (for those offered a lower-tier contract than their previous contract) closes (5pm)
Tuesday March 21, 3pm
Delisted free agency period opens
Thursday March 23, 4pm
Delisted free agency period closes
Friday March 24, by 5pm
AFLW Season Eight Supplementary Draft order finalised
Tuesday March 28, 5pm
AFLW Season Eight Supplementary Draft nominations close
Thursday March 30, 5pm
Final date to make players inactive before AFLW Season Eight Supplementary Draft
Tuesday April 4
AFLW Season Eight Supplementary Draft
