The 2026 AFL Draft starts at Marvel Stadium on Thursday 19 November, with Essendon holding pick No.1 and expected to use it to bid on Port Adelaide academy prospect Dougie Cochrane. Here are the key dates, the draft order and the names to know before the first pick is called.
Key dates for the 2026 AFL Draft
Nominations close at 3pm AEDT on Wednesday 11 November. The AFL’s first list of nominees, released on Friday, had 594 names, with about 90 more still being processed, AFL.com.au reported.
Delisted Saint Dan Butler, who St Kilda has guaranteed to re-select, and delisted Geelong midfielder Mitch Knevitt are among the former AFL players to have nominated.
The first round will be held on Thursday 19 November from 7pm AEDT, with the remaining rounds on Friday 20 November from 7pm AEDT, according to the AFL. The pre-season and rookie drafts follow on Monday 23 November at 3pm AEDT. ESPN says the first round is again at Marvel Stadium and will be shown on Fox Footy.
2026 AFL Draft order: round one
The indicative draft order published by AFL.com.au after the trade period has Essendon at No.1, followed by Richmond (2), West Coast (3), Melbourne (4), Richmond (5), Sydney (6), Port Adelaide (7), Gold Coast (8), GWS (9) and St Kilda (10).
The rest of the first round runs Collingwood (11), Port Adelaide (12), Carlton (13), Melbourne (14), Adelaide (15), St Kilda (16), Essendon (17), Carlton (18), Fremantle (19) and GWS (20).
Richmond landed pick 5 from Port Adelaide on Deadline Day, giving up pick 22 and three selections next year, while Essendon’s pick 17 came from Hawthorn in the Zach Merrett trade. Clubs can still trade picks before and during the draft, and the order will move as bids on father-son and academy players are matched.
Read more: AFL: Zach Merrett Traded to Hawthorn as Bombers Land Pick 15
Essendon’s No.1 pick and the Dougie Cochrane bid
Essendon holds the top pick a decade on from the last time it took No.1, ESPN noted. Cochrane is the son of former North Melbourne and Port Adelaide midfielder Stuart Cochrane and is eligible to join the Power through their Next Generation Academy.
“We are planning for Dougie to be bid on at one. Yes, I am happy to share that Essendon has told us that as well,” Port Adelaide list boss Jason Cripps told AFL Trade Radio, AAP reported.
A matched bid would push Essendon’s first pick down the order and trigger start-of-second-round compensation picks for the Bombers, Richmond and West Coast, according to ESPN. Under the AFL’s new rules, clubs can use a maximum of two selections to match a bid on a club-tied prospect.
Cochrane told The Age in October he didn’t mind the pressure of being the expected No.1 pick. “If you think about it, there are that many players in the draft, so it’s rare that the No.1 pick is the best player in the draft,” he said.
Cody Walker and the other names to know
Father-son prospect Cody Walker, the son of 202-game Carlton player Andrew Walker, is set to join the Blues, who hold picks 13 and 18 to match a bid on him.
ESPN reported Ethan Drever, Arki Butler and Heath Mellody are all still in contention to be the first open-pool selection, with Harry Van Hattum, Gus Teixeira, Mitch Harris and Giants Academy prospect Ethan Matthews also near the top of draft boards. Thirteen of the top prospects have been invited to Marvel Stadium for the first night.
Read more: AFL Number 1 Draft Picks: Every Top Pick Since 1981
Sam Gayfer, a top-10 riser, is the nephew of 1990 Collingwood premiership player Mick Gayfer, while Koby LeCras is the nephew of 2018 premiership player Mark LeCras.
ESPN said the draft could also produce a record number of Indigenous players taken in the first round. The current mark is four, set in 2005 and 2014, and Cochrane, Walker, Brisbane academy prospect Caylen Murray, Toby Krasna and Jake Eime could all be first-round picks this year.
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