(From left to right): Former Roo Jack Mahony now a Sun, Port’s Riley Bonner is a Saint, and Hawk Emerson Jeka joins Geelong.

The AFL’s version of the second-chance saloon occurred on Wednesday by way of the pre-season and rookie drafts.

These modes of recruitment serve as reprieves for both discarded AFL players and overlooked teenagers at the national draft alike, while also giving clubs the chance to re-draft some players they’ve delisted but made a commitment to.

Across both drafts on Wednesday, there were 32 picks in total, but only 13 of them were truly “live” selections considering 10 delisted players rejoined their clubs and another nine picks were passed on.

There were three legitimate lifelines handed to delisted players with former Port Adelaide defender Riley Bonner selected by St Kilda with the third pick of the pre-season draft, ex-Hawthorn forward Emerson Jeka picked up by Geelong at No.7 of the rookie draft, and discarded North Melbourne forward-midfielder Jack Mahony making his way to Gold Coast with pick 24.

The 10 players who returned to their clubs were Chad Wingard (Hawthorn), Taylor Duryea (Western Bulldogs), Sam Reid (Sydney), Jake Melksham (Melbourne), Adam Kennedy (GWS), Sam Day (Gold Coast), Lachie McNeil (Western Bulldogs), Cooper Stephens (Hawthorn), Will Hamill (Adelaide) and James Borlase (Adelaide).

Wingard had garnered some interest from Collingwood in recent weeks, but he will remain at Waverley Park for at least another year, the majority of which he will spend rehabilitating from a ruptured Achilles.

Melksham will also be sidelined for most of 2024 after rupturing his ACL in the last round of the home-and-away season.

Some familiar names have also returned to club land with Indhi Kirk, son of Sydney legend Brett, joining the Swans as a category B rookie, while Kynan Brown, the son of former Demons midfielder Nathan, headed to Melbourne as a father-son selection with pick 22.

The top pick of the rookie draft was small forward Loch Rawlinson who joined West Coast. The Sturt product knows how to find the footy, and also has very good ball use.

With the second pick, the Kangaroos selected mature-age ruckman Finnbar Maley from the Northern Bullants, continuing North’s strategy of loading up on rucks following on from their recruitments of Taylor Goad and Wil Dawson in the first round of the national draft on Monday night.

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Gold Coast continued the VFL flavour with the fourth pick as they selected Werribee’s Sam Clohesy who won the league’s version of the Rising Star this year.

Rounding out the top five was another ruckman Odin Jones who joined Fremantle and further bolsters the Dockers’ ruck stocks that already feature Luke Jackson and Sam Darcy.

At pick eight, Essendon also chose a ruckman – Vigo Visentini – who is the younger brother of Port Adelaide’s Dante. Vigo played very well for Vic Metro this year, and with 35-year-old Todd Goldstein very much a stopgap option for the Bombers in 2024, Viesntini will be viewed as long-term support for the likes of Sam Draper and Nick Bryan.

Three other category B players were added to rookie lists in Coen Livingstone (West Coast), Bruce Reville (Brisbane) and Nathan Wardius (GWS).

There were a few players who could consider themselves unlucky not to make it onto an AFL list this week, such as Sandringham Dragons wingman Tarkyn O’Leary, who won the 2km time trial at the draft combine, WA key forward Sam van Rooyen, the younger brother of Melbourne’s Jacob, and East Fremantle midfielder Koen Sanchez.

But the door has not yet closed on them, or other players who have been snubbed, because there is still the pre-season supplemental selection period which runs all the way up to the start of the season proper.

With so many passes in the rookie draft, clubs have purposely left spots open on their list to get a better look at players during the train-on window which starts next week. Clubs can invite 3-5 undrafted/unlisted players to participate in pre-season training.

And, of course, there’s the mid-season draft next year as well.

2024 AFL PRE-SEASON DRAFT

Round One
1. Chad Wingard (Hawthorn) – Hawthorn
2. Sam Day (Gold Coast) – Gold Coast
3. Riley Bonner (Port Adelaide) – St Kilda

2024 AFL ROOKIE DRAFT

Round One
1. Loch Rawlinson (Sturt) – West Coast
2. Finnbar Maley (Northern Bullants) – North Melbourne
3. Cooper Stephens (Hawthorn) – Hawthorn
4. Sam Clohesy (Werribee) – Gold Coast
5. Odin Jones (West Perth) – Fremantle
6. Pass – Richmond
7. Emerson Jeka (Hawthorn) – Geelong
8. Vigo Visentini (Sandringham Dragons) – Essendon
9. Will Hamill (Adelaide) – Adelaide
10. Lachie McNeil (Western Bulldogs) – Western Bulldogs
11. Sam Reid (Sydney) – Sydney
12. Jake Melksham (Melbourne) – Melbourne
13. Xavier Walsh (East Perth) – Port Adelaide
14. Adam Kennedy (GWS) – GWS
15. Matt Carroll (Sandringham Dragons) – Carlton
16. Pass – Collingwood

Round Two
17. Pass – North Melbourne
18. Will Rowlands (Norwood) – Gold Coast
19. Pass – Fremantle
20. James Borlase (Adelaide) – Adelaide
21. Taylor Duryea (Western Bulldogs) – Western Bulldogs
22. Kynan Brown (Oakleigh Chargers) – Melbourne
23. Pass – Collingwood

Round Three
24. Jack Mahony (North Melbourne) – Gold Coast
25. Pass – Western Bulldogs
26. Pass – Melbourne
27. Pass – Collingwood

Round Four
28. Pass – Gold Coast

Round Five
29. Pass – Gold Coast