How to Get Drafted into the AFL/AFLW: Draft-Ready Training
Now this blog post is not for everyone. It is targeted at footballers ready to enter the AFL/AFLW draft in 2026. Right now, you’re at a critical point, and you have the potential to significantly increase your draft chances if you start implementing the right habits NOW.
It’s time for you to optimise your training, ensure that the progress you’re making is actually what AFL & AFLW clubs need and not driven by internal ego. This means that you shouldn’t be doing the same program from 3 years ago, but (and this is very important) you also should not be using a program that an AFL/AFLW player is doing either.
So why not mimic that of an AFL/AFLW player if that is exactly what you want to achieve? Because what your body needs to achieve at each age is different. Mimicking the heavy training loads undertaken by elite and semi-elite footballers when your body has not grown enough in size can be detrimental to your development by significantly increasing your risk of injury [1].
It is for this reason that the AFL and Talent Pathways are educating young footballers and football club administrators that youth players should not be playing more than 25 games per season and ideally should not be playing more than 2 games per week [2].
So, if you’re not aiming to get drafted in this calendar year – keep an eye out for next month's blog post, where we will provide content specific to junior footballers’ development – but if you’re hoping to hear your name get called at the AFL or AFLW Draft in 2026, keep reading.
What it Means to Be Draft-Ready for the AFL/AFLW
Draft readiness is not just about body composition, big muscles, high aerobic capacity and speed, it is also about whether the footballer can handle increased load, do they recover well? Can they train hard consistently without breaking down?
At HAD, we work to prepare our clients to walk into an AFL/AFLW club and not miss a beat. Our clients are given programs that allow them to be physically competent, robust, and role-ready, so that when they’re called to debut, they are 100% confident in their body, which allows them to perform at a high level. Our programs reflect the needs of an AFL/AFLW club to give our clients the best chance at success with minimal injury risks.
So, what should YOU prioritise in your training?
1. Prioritise your recovery to train for repeatability
Long-term injuries or high injury risk players do impact draft decisions; we see it regularly on draft night. Players who were once predicted to be a top 10 pick, sliding to the 30’s and 40’s due to a long-term injury concern... or players who were predicted at 30-40 sliding completely out of draft contention due to their high injury risk.
It is for this reason that clubs request medical assessments of each player, and why they have club physios attend the draft combine to test any ‘niggles’ that players may be carrying.
To combat this risk, you need to ensure that you are training at a capacity that your body can handle. Draft ready players rarely miss sessions because they train hard, and importantly, they recover well so they can feel ready to train again. These consecutive training sessions build up your body’s capacity to increase your training load, it builds your tolerance gradually, not suddenly.
Your recovery routine also needs to align with your conditioning and strength training. Put in some time to ask questions of your high-performance team about what you can do to improve your recovery after each session. Your recovery can look different after a session where you ran 8kms vs a heavy lifting session, so don’t be afraid to ask questions and mix up your routine to give your body exactly what it needs.
Listen to what your body needs when you’re training, don’t push yourself so hard that you cannot train again tomorrow and prioritise your recovery. 1 year is a long time to build up your capacity, give your body the time and tools to develop consistently so you can play every game and train every session.
If you don’t have someone to provide you with some guidance on your recovery, reach out to us. Our High-Performance Manager can map out a recovery plan for each training session type you complete throughout the 2026 season.
2.Train and Prepare like a Professional Footballer
This step should not be overlooked. You’re already starting to tick this box by reading this blog post (i.e. researching how to better prepare for your draft year) … so let’s keep building some important and positive habits that will prepare you for your draft year.
These habits seem simple but doing them regularly not only will improve your capacity to train at a high standard consistently, but it will also show recruiters that you are committed to your own development and that you are coachable!
Turn up to every training session and game PREPARED. Do you have all your uniform, your bottle, any additional supplements you need, additional food if you need it, your mouth guard, cross-training gear, swim gear, foam roller, stretch bands, etc.?
Fuel and hydrate properly
Prioritise your sleep
Take your recovery seriously
Communicate to your coaches and your high-performance team if something does not feel right in your body.
3.Train for your Role
Whilst hitting a PB in the bench press is exciting, this year, we want to be focusing on optimising your gains for your on-field role. What does that look like?
Well, with some of the rule changes in the men’s competition in 2026 (some of which are already implemented in the AFLW), clubs are starting to prioritise different physical attributes in players due to the increase in free-flowing ball movement, reduced stoppages and less ‘dead time’.
The biggest impact is on AFL Rucks, who also have centre bounce rule changes which provide an advantage to the hyper mobile, agile and jumping rucks; however, overall, the AFL and AFLW are placing a larger focus and need on players with high aerobic capacity and speed.
Strength Training Focuses (All Positions):
Reliability and Reproducibility
Injury Prevention
Power Development
Absolute & relative strength
Robustness under fatigue
Conditioning Training Focuses (Role Specific)
Inside midfielders, rucks, wings, high half forwards
· High aerobic need & High-volume aerobic intervals
· Repeat effort running
· Strong 2km time
o Males: 6:00 – 6:45 min. < 6:00 min = elite
o Females: 6:50 – 7:30. <7.15s = elite
Small forwards, running defenders, outside midfielders
· High speed & power need
· Max velocity sprinting
· Acceleration power (20m sprint focus)
o Males: ~3.00 sec or faster. 2.80s or < = elite
o Females: ~3.25 sec or faster. 3.15s or < = elite
· Change of direction efficiency
· Agility (Illinois Agility Test)
o Males: <8.00 secs. <7.85s= elite
o Females: <8.75 secs. <8.5s= elite
Key forwards, key defenders, rucks
· Absolute strength
· Collision tolerance
· Short burst repeat power
· Aerobic capacity to cover ground
Now you’ve got the targets and your focus areas for your position, it’s time to go out and train them.
Being ready for the AFL and AFLW isn't about peaking earlier in the year; it’s about building a body that keeps improving when the standard rises. That takes structure, patience, and individualised programming to set you up to:
· Handle higher loads
· Stay healthy across a long season
· Improve consistently, not suddenly
· Walk into an AFL/AFLW environment ready to train and play
That is exactly how you develop a point of difference from other players who are trying to do everything at once; instead, YOU will be doing the right things, at the right time to improve your draft chances this year.
If you need assistance in developing a program including a weekly plan that allows you to progressively increase your load and improve your speed, power, acceleration, and fitness whilst simultaneously preventing injuries, reach out to us - it’s what we do.
Beyond the physical work, understanding how recruiters assess talent, what they prioritise, value, what stands out and how decisions are actually made can be the difference between being noticed and being overlooked. Our Recruiter Masterclass (attended by 5x AFL/AFLW Recruiters and List Managers) pulls back the curtain on the draft process, giving you direct insight into what AFL and AFLW recruiters are really looking for and how to position yourself accordingly.
We help our clients set up so they can time their physical peak to perfectly match the needs of the 2026 season, so let's get started!