Eight members of the PM Capital GIANTS Academy have been nominated as draft eligible players for this year’s NAB AFL Draft.
Jock Cornell (Mangoplah), Nicholas Coughlan (Albury Tigers), Matthew Flynn (Narrandera), Harrison Himmelberg (Mangoplah), Jacob Hobber (North Ballarat Rebels), Jack Irvine (Temora), Matthew Kennedy (Collingullie) and Lachlan Tiziani (Albury) were all nominated under the provisions of the Club Academies Rule.
For players to be included as a draft eligible Club Academy Player, they must have represented New South Wales at any underage national football championships in that year or any other competition as determined by the AFL.
This year's nomination process has changed to fall in line with the introduction of live bidding during this year's draft.
Last year the academy clubs had to nominate their eligible group of players and then confirm a second nomination closer to the bidding meeting on the opening morning of the trade period.
But this year the four clubs only have to name the players eligible for academy selection at this point of the process, with the next step coming on draft night.
If a rival bids for Hopper, for instance, the GIANTS will then get the option to match the bid. The same applies for all of the eligible 25 players if a bid comes for them during the draft.
Under the reformed bidding system, each draft selection is allocated a points value on a sliding scale.
Clubs nominating a player as an academy draftee will be forced to use their existing draft selections to match the points value of the pick used by the club bidding for the player.
The AFL has settled on a maximum discount of 20 per cent for academy players in the first round. After that, the discount will be fixed at 197 points - the discount for pick 18.
The technology required for live bidding is being developed by the AFL and statistics partner Champion Data and is expected to be ready for draft night.
The National Draft will take place at Adelaide Convention Centre on Tuesday, November 24.
Hopper, Kennedy, Cornell, Coughlan, Flynn, Himmelberg and Tiziani will all be in action for the Allies against the NAB AFL Academy as a curtain-raiser to this week’s 2015 Toyota AFL Grand Final on the MCG.
The Allies are made up of 2015 draft prospects from the division two teams – NSW/ACT, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory. The Allies will play the level two Academy squad, which is the group of highly-rated players eligible for the 2016 draft.
The curtain-raiser kicks off at 10am on Saturday.
