Rookie List

[GoEagles]

Just looking through a few old AFL Records from past years, I have noticed that each year only 1 or 2 rookies survive and the other 3 or 4 get delisted or traded to another club. I think that this is amazing how clubs want to foster and nurture the players to hopefully come up to the next level, but then drop them off the list at the end of the year to pick up new players in the draft.

Interesting to hear what other people think about this topic.

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

Wasn't it Justin Madden who said a couple of years ago the
'Football eats its own young'

I guess its just too much pressure and weight of expectation (not to mention the hefty money these boys are being paid these days) for most young lads to be able to bear.

I don't blame them - I wouldn't want to be an AFL footballer at 18-19 either. Like the cliche says its only the strong who survive.

 

[walshy1993]

the answer to your question is that when players are drafted to the rookie list they only have one year contracts. this is an afl rule, the only exception to this is if you recruit a interstate player to your rookie list, in this case the players are given two years. dean rioli is an example of this.
coming from perth he was put on the senior list during his second season on the rookie list.
so basically at the end of a season all rookie players get promoted or delisted.
they can then enter the national draft to be picked up by an afl club. if unsuccessful they can then enter the rookie draft and be redrafted to the same or a different teams rookie list.

at the end of a season clubs dont have enough positions to recruit all their rookies and have to give them up due to afl rules

i hope that made sense

 

[sainter]

goeagles,

We had a promising young ruckman called Garth Pickford on our rookie list last year and retained him for this year.

Unfortunately, rookies are paid around $13,000 which is impossible to live on, especially with the amount of time that players are expected to be at the club.

Therefore, earlier this year he quit the club and offered his services to any suburban or country club that could find him a job.

While I agree with the rookie lists in principle, there are still problems with it and it is not surprising that there is such a large turnover of players.