1996 AFL Draft

The 1996 AFL Draft was held at the conclusion of the 1996 Australian Football League (AFL) season.

The AFL Draft is the annual draft of new unsigned players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League.

Clubs receive picks based on the position in which they finish on the ladder during the season, although these picks can be swapped around by teams for trading players.

Trades: Club by club

Adelaide

• Brett James from Collingwood for Jonathon Ross
• Trent Ormond-Allen from Melbourne for Draft Pick #83
• Clay Sampson from Melbourne for Nick Pesch
• Tim Cook and Aaron Keating from Port Adelaide for Scott Hodges
• Nick Laidlaw from Port Adelaide for David Brown
• Barry Standfield from Western Bulldogs for Draft Picks #32 and #47

Carlton

• Ben Nelson and Andrew Balkwill from Port Adelaide for Brent Heaver
• Mick McGuane from Collingwood for Draft Picks #19 and #65

Collingwood

• Anthony Rocca from Sydney for Ben Wilson, Mark Orchard and Draft Picks #14 and #33
• John R. Barnett from North Melbourne for Draft Pick #70
• Richard Osbourne from Western Bulldogs for Draft Pick #61
• Jonathon Ross from Adelaide for Brett James

Geelong

• Hamish Simpson and Cameron Roberts from Port Adelaide for Draft Pick #37
• Tim Hargreaves from Hawthorn for Aaron Lord

Hawthorn

• Aaron Lord from Geelong for Tim Hargreaves
• Justin Crawford from Sydney for David McEwan and Draft Pick #17

North Melbourne

• Kent Kingsley and Wade Kingsley from Port Adelaide for Paul Geister

Melbourne

• Nick Pesch from Adelaide for Clay Sampson

Port Adelaide

• Shane Bond and Brayden Lyle from West Coast for Draft Pick #57
• Shayne Breuer from Geelong for Hamish Simpson, Cameron Roberts and Draft Picks #8 and 43
• David Brown from Adelaide for Nick Laidlaw
• Paul Geister from North Melbourne for Kent Kingsley and Wade Kingsley
• Brent Heaver from Carlton for Ben Nelson and Andrew Balkwill
• Scott Hodges from Adelaide for Aaron Keating and Tim Cook
  • For zone and uncontracted player selections see below

Richmond

• Trent Nichols from North Melbourne for Draft Pick #50

St Kilda

• Troy Gray from Sydney for Draft Pick #34

Sydney

• Mark Orchard and Ben Wilson from Collingwood for Anthony Rocca
• David McEwan from Hawthorn for Justin Crawford

West Coast

• Ilija Grgic from Western Bulldogs for Luke Trew and Draft Pick #20

Western Bulldogs

• Simon Minton-Connell from Hawthorn for Draft Pick #29
• Luke Trew from West Coast for Ilija Grgic

1996 National Draft

Bold = Current AFL player

1997 Pre-Season Draft

Port Adelaide Zone selections

As part of Port Adelaide's entry to the AFL they were entitled to recruit some uncontracted players from other AFL clubs and players from the SANFL prior to the national draft. Clubs that lost players were entitled to compensation selections before both the first and second rounds of the 1996 National Draft.

Uncontracted Player Selection

• Ian Downsborough (West Coast): compensation selections #1 (Michael Gardiner) and #24 (Josh Wooden)
• Gavin Wanganeen (Essendon): compensation selections #2 (Chris Heffernan) and #25 (Andrew Bomford)
• Matthew Primus (Fitzroy): compensation selections #3 (Rory Hilton) and #26 (Tim Notting) to Brisbane Lions
• Adam Heuskes (Sydney): compensation selections #4 (Mark Kinnear) and #27 (Troy Cook)
• Scott Cummings (Essendon): compensation selections #5 (Daniel McAlister) and #28 (Jason Johnson)

Zone Selections

Brisbane Lions pre-draft selections

As part of the conditions of the merger between Brisbane Bears and the Fitzroy Football Club, Brisbane was able to recruit up to eight players from Fitzroy into the newly created Brisbane Lions.

• Scott Bamford
• John Barker
• Brad Boyd
• Nick Carter
• Shane Clayton
• Simon Hawking
• Chris Johnson
• Jarrod Molloy