http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-10-10/unsigned-your-clubs-outofcontract-players

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-10-21/your-clubs-first-pick-whos-in-the-mix

2019 JLT Community Series Fixture - note later JLT start as each team plays their 2 games in back to back weeks rather than the series being split over 3 weeks as in 2018

Week one (Feb 28 to March 4)
Thursday, February 28
Carlton v Essendon at Ikon Park, 6.40pm EDT
Friday, March 1
West Coast v Geelong at Leederville Oval, 4.10pm WST
Saturday, March 2
North Melbourne v St Kilda at Avalon Airport Oval, Werribee, 1.10pm EDT
Adelaide v Port Adelaide at the Memorial Oval, Port Pirie, 3.40pm CDT
GWS Giants v Sydney at Blacktown International Sportspark, 7.10pm EDT
Sunday, March 3
Brisbane v Hawthorn at Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex, 12.40pm EST
Richmond v Melbourne at Deakin Reserve, Shepparton, 4.40pm EDT
Gold Coast v Western Bulldogs at Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 6.40pm EST
Monday, March 4
Fremantle v Collingwood at HBF Arena, Joondalup, 3.40pm WST

--------------
Week two (Mar 7 to Mar 11)
Thursday, March 7
Geelong v Essendon at GMHBA Stadium, 7.10pm EDT
Friday, March 8
GWS Giants v Adelaide at UNSW Canberra Oval, 7.10pm EDT
Saturday, March 9
Port Adelaide v North Melbourne at Alberton Oval, 12.40pm CDT
Melbourne v Brisbane at Casey Fields, Cranbourne, 4.10pm EDT
Hawthorn v Richmond at UTAS Stadium, 7.10pm EDT
Sunday, March 10
Sydney v Gold Coast at Oakes Oval, Lismore, 1.10pm EDT
Western Bulldogs v St Kilda at Mars Stadium, Ballarat, 4.10pm EDT
Fremantle v West Coast at Rushton Park, Mandurah, 4.10pm WST
Monday, March 11
Collingwood v Carlton at Morwell Recreation Reserve, 2.10pm EDT

https://media.heraldsun.com.au/fe/sport/2019ToyotaAFLPremiershipSeasonFixture.pdf
This is the non-pretty version which shows who is televising each match

The China match (StK vs PA) is in Rd 11 so there is no standalone bye round in 2019
Rd 12 Byes = Ess, Freo, Haw, PA, StK, WB
Rd 13 Byes = Bris, Coll, Geel, Melb, Syd, WCE
Rd 14 Byes = Adel, Carl, GCS, GWS, NM, Rich

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-11-04/worth-a-look-15-tempting-delisted-free-agents
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-11-03/wheres-your-club-at-training-return-injuries-major-moves
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-11-11/who-is-the-next-tim-kelly-the-best-matureage-prospects

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-11-18/rookie-relief-looms-for-a-dozen-four-others-in-limbo

Who has your club committed to taking in the rookie draft?
Brisbane: Ryan Bastinac and Jacob Allison
Fremantle: Ethan Hughes, Ryan Nyhuis and Michael Apeness
Gold Coast: Jack Leslie, Michael Rischitelli, Brad Scheer and Harrison Wigg
North Melbourne: Kyron Hayden
Port Adelaide: Cameron Hewett
Richmond: Jacob Townsend

Which clubs have ex-players training with them but have not committed to taking them in the rookie draft?
Adelaide: Paul Hunter
Carlton: Jed Lamb
North Melbourne: Alex Morgan
Richmond: Mabior Chol

No Ex Players training with their 2018 club – Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong, GWS, Hawthorn, Melbourne

Still wanna see if the Crows sell the farm to one-up Port, mid draft!

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-11-20/callum-twomeys-2018-phantom-draft

not a bad effort from the quick look I've had so far in relation to picking to GWS needs, be interested to see what other team's supporters think

Plenty of debate on Port’s needs. Personally reckon that we need to take one of the King boys at 5 and then some versatility and pace with 10 and 15. Would prefer Jones over Clark at 10. Duursma at 15 looks a safe bet. Need to be drafting for the future and not expecting to immediately fill the holes left by Polly and Chad.

http://www.afl.com.au/draft/draft-tracker is one of the places to follow proceedings if you don't have Pay TV at home, it sounds like it will be live streamed on the AFL app as well

Night 1 selections
1 Carlton Sam Walsh Geelong Falcons
2 Gold Coast Suns Jack Lukosius WWT Eagles
3 Gold Coast Suns Izak Rankine West Adelaide
4 St Kilda Max King Sandringham Dragons
5 Port Adelaide Connor Rozee North Adelaide
6 Gold Coast Suns Ben King Sandringham Dragons
7 Western Bulldogs Bailey Smith Sandringham Dragons
8 North Melbourne Tarryn Thomas North Launcestion (NM NGA)
9 Adelaide Chayce Jones Launceston
10 Sydney Swans Nick Blakey UNSW/Sydney Swans Academy

11 GWS Giants Jye Caldwell Bendigo Pioneers
12 Port Adelaide Zak Butters Western Jets
13 Collingwood Isaac Quaynor Oakleigh Chargers (Coll NGA)
14 GWS Giants Jackson Hately Central District
15 Geelong Cats Jordan Clark Claremont
16 Adelaide Edward McHenry Geelong Falcons
17 Fremantle Sam Sturt Dandenong Stingrays
18 Port Adelaide Xavier Duursma Gippsland Power
19 Carlton Liam Stocker Sandringham Dragons
20 Richmond Riley Collier-Dawkins Oakleigh Chargers
21 Brisbane Lions Ely Smith Murray Bushrangers
22 GWS Giants Xavier O'Halloran Western Jets


The Swans and Eagles make 2 live trades to shield the Swans first pick from the Blakey bid.

The Blues swapping 2019 1st rounders with the Crows is a gutsy call, not sure whether that one was linked to the Mitch McGovern trade, or they expect Adelaide to be rubbish next season or they expect to be big improvers themselves

Ian Hill, Rhylee West, Curtis Taylor were the highest ranked on https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/wisdom-of-the-crowd-draft.1208977/ not to be taken on night 1, but it is far too early for them to be deemed to have slid, while McHenry and Ely Smith were taken a little earlier than predicted.

From this point is where things always get interesting.

Swans basically got Blakey for free, combo of teams not bidding at his correct value and 2 very smart trades.
The pick slides mean that the Dogs will get West for less than his real worth too.
Hately at 14 feels like we stole him
Butters at 12 is very early for mine so Port must really like him.

This is my whole problem with the current drafting and points system - its too easy for a team to score a player for well under his actual value, simply because of "romanticism" (father-son), or through the academy system (which is a whole other argument).

I'm happy that the Eagles traded effectively pick 25 and a future R3 for pick 29 and a future R2 - its dropping four spots this year (which might not effect who they're targeting anyway) and gaining approximately 10 spots (between 1 and 18 spots) next year.
I am however, upset that these two trades allowed Sydney to rort the system.

If a club wants a player, for whatever reason, then in my view, they should have to trade up the draft order to ensure they get that player. If N Blakey is worth a pick 8, then it should take a pick 8 to get him, not (effectively) picks 33, 38, 39 and / or whatever else Sydney actually had to give up for him. Points don't matter (thanks Drew Carey), positions matter, and they're all that should matter.

In a perfect world that would be ideal, but the non-traditional AFL states have to have priority access in some manner to home grown talent. The go-home factor is a huge issue for all 4 clubs to manage and a big part of the reason for the acadmies. This then led to the setup of NGAs so that the other clubs would stop whining so much.
I am a romantic so the Father/Son thing is a unique aspect of the AFL that I love despite neither the Saints or (obviously) the Giants having benefited much.

I don't there is a correct way to equalise the game, or at least one that will be universally accepted which is why differing opinions all have validity

I definitely agree with you on the last point - creating a universally accepted equalisation policy is IMPOSSIBLE!

My other issue with father-son, especially when bidding and points comes into play, somewhat happens with N Blakey this year, and will happen with Chris Judd's sons in 15-odd years (along with others).
So, both the Eagles and Blues want Judd Jr to play for them, but some other club puts in a bid. Both Eagles and Blues then try to match the bid using points - who wins? Does it become an auction?
The argument about which team he'd prefer to play for is irrelevant, its the draft, and no other player gets to pick which club selects him in the draft. So how do you overcome this? Simple: you make a pick worth its face value, and the highest face value wins, regardless of anything else.
But that's just me...

Yeah not sure why we didn’t take Hately at 12. Not overwhelmed with Butters pick, would’ve liked some more height, even if not a pure fwd.
Will be interesting to see how much gametime Port give these three kids.

Duursma looks ready though he and Rozee lack size atm, Rozee looks like he will be a gun.
Butters is a good get, probably just went early on him, maybe they gambled Duursma would still be there but Butters wouldn't?

Yeah couldn't really go wrong with three first rounders. Good SANFL/TAC numbers from these guys and all have well rounded games other than some strength.

Courtesy of CD