Category B Rookies

This year’s NAB AFL Pre-season and Rookie Drafts will be held tomorrow.

The Demons currently have no vacancies on either their primary or rookie lists and will not be taking part in either of the drafts but the opportunity still remains for them to secure additional players from certain avenues through signing them as Category B rookies.

The AFL rules allows clubs to add up to three players in this category. The player in question must be one who:

• has not registered in an Australian Football competition for three years immediately before inclusion on the Rookie List;

• is an international player, meaning he is not an Australian citizen and has not lived in Australia for a substantial period;

• is a former NSW Scholarship player with that club;

• is a former International Scholarship player with that club; or

• is a rookie Zone Selection for clubs based in NSW or Queensland.

Clubs can list one Irish player as a Category B rookie but for each additional Irish player rookie listed, that player will be deemed to be a Category A rookie.

Clubs can list players as Category B rookies from the AFL's indigenous and multicultural academies if they were overlooked in the drafts.

The club’s last two Category B rookies were former basketballers Joel Smith and Corey Maynard but both have been elevated, the former straight into the primary list while the latter is now a Category A rookie. Maynard’s recent rookie elevation to leave the club without players on the B list has raised some speculation as to whether the club has some further prospects in mind for future selection - perhaps a player from another sport or from the indigenous or multicultural fields.

There have been no indications to date but let’s see what happens.