When Sam Mitchell floated the idea that AFL clubs should be able to carry as many players as they can manage, he wasn’t just floating a theory. He was looking straight down the barrel of a league-wide structural shift that’s already locked in for 2028. The rookie list is, by all available accounts, dead.
And that death creates a vacuum. The Hawthorn coach’s proposal fills that vacuum with something radical: no ceiling on list size.
Just a floor. Clubs would decide their own maximum. The current system, where a club juggles 36 to 38 primary-listed players, six to eight Category A rookies, and up to two Category B rookies, would be gone.
Replaced by one list plus Category B rookies. That’s the expected outcome from the next collective bargaining agreement, timed with Tasmania’s entry into the competition.
Tom Morris laid it out plainly on The Agenda Setters Wednesday night. Rookie lists appear dead. The AFL is likely to move to a single list.
Mitchell’s idea takes that single list and says, essentially, let the market — or the club’s capacity to manage — decide the number. For list managers, this is not a minor tweak. St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt described it as Christmas for them.
It adds a layer of complexity, yes, but also a layer of freedom. No more shoehorning a promising 19-year-old into a rookie spot because the primary list is full.
No more delisting a player you’d rather keep just to hit the 36-player floor or the 38-player ceiling. The consequences ripple outward. Player development pathways change.
A club that thinks it can develop 50 players — and has the coaching staff, facilities, and salary cap space to do it — could theoretically carry 50. A club that prefers a lean, tight squad of 36 could stop there.
The old arms race was about who could manipulate the rookie list best. The new arms race would be about who can manage the largest squad most efficiently. But there’s a catch buried in Mitchell’s proposal.
He said a club should have any number it thinks it can manage. That word — “manage” — is doing heavy lifting. It implies not just coaching and game-day selection, but salary cap management, welfare, development, and culture.
A squad of 50 players means 50 contracts. It means 50 personalities.
It means 50 players who expect game time or at least a development plan. Not every club is built for that. And then there’s the Tasmania factor.
The Devils enter in 2028. That’s the trigger for the new CBA and the rookie list’s elimination.
But it’s also the moment the player pool gets stretched thinner. More clubs, same draft pool. Mitchell’s model, if adopted, would let established clubs hoard talent.
A club like Hawthorn, Collingwood, or West Coast could stockpile young players, develop them, and either play them or trade them. Smaller clubs or expansion clubs might struggle to compete in that environment. Riewoldt’s “Christmas” comment suggests he sees the upside.
More players on a list means more options. More creativity in list construction.
More chances to find a late-bloomer or a project player without worrying about rookie category restrictions. But Christmas morning can turn into a hangover if the gift is unmanageable. The league’s direction is clear.
The rookie list is going. The question is what replaces it.
Mitchell has thrown his answer onto the table. Now the CEOs, the AFL, and the Players’ Association have to decide if they want to open that door all the way, or keep a frame around it.
