2007 AFL draft
The 2007 Australian Football League draft consisted of four opportunities for player acquisitions during the 2007/08 Australian Football League off-season. These were trade week, the national draft, which was held on 24 November 2007, the pre-season draft and the rookie draft.
Player movements
Trades
2007 was the first year that clubs were allowed to trade picks without the trade involving a player.The trade week was headlined by the desire of West Coast premiership captain Chris Judd to return to Victoria, after six years with the club having been drafted to the Eagles in AFL draft|2001]. His departure created much attention and speculation among the Melbourne-based clubs, the media and the football community.
In the weeks following the announcement of his departure, Judd met with four clubs: Essendon, Melbourne, Collingwood and Carlton. On 2 October 2007, Judd announced that his preferred club was Carlton, and Carlton was also considered most likely to secure a trade with West Coast, because the club held two early draft picks which could be used in negotiations. On 11 October 2007, Judd was officially traded to Carlton along with a third round selection in the 2007 AFL draft for Carlton's first and second round selections and Josh Kennedy, who was reluctant to leave Carlton.
| Player | Original club | New club | Traded for |
| Martin Mattner | draft pick #28 | ||
| John Meesen | draft pick #37 | ||
| Chris Judd and draft pick #46 | Josh Kennedy, draft picks #3 and #20 | ||
| Josh Kennedy, draft picks #3 and #20 | Chris Judd and draft pick #46 | ||
| Cameron Wood | draft pick #14 | ||
| Travis Johnstone | draft pick #14 | ||
| Brad Moran | draft pick #37 | ||
| Brad Symes | draft pick #28 | ||
| Jordan McMahon | draft pick #19 | ||
| Henry Playfair | draft pick #44 | ||
| Adam Schneider | draft pick #26 | ||
| Sean Dempster | draft pick #26 | ||
| Mitch Morton | draft pick #35 | ||
| Steven King | draft pick #90 | ||
| Charlie Gardiner | draft pick #90 | ||
| Ben Hudson and draft pick #43 | draft picks #30 & #38 | ||
| Tim Callan and draft pick #66 | draft pick #62 | ||
| Ben Davies | draft pick #96 | ||
| Sam Power | draft pick #48 | ||
| Richard Hadley | draft pick #52 | ||
| Draft pick #22 | draft picks #30 and #35 |
Retirements and delistings
The 2007 AFL season is notable for the unusually large number of players who retired, particularly senior and "champion" players.| Name | Club | Date Retired | Reason |
| Jonathan Hay | 22 February | Contractual problems resulting from bi-polar issues. | |
| Darren Gaspar | 4 May | To help Richmond's younger players and go for a youth policy. | |
| Brett Montgomery | 25 May | Disk bulge in neck. | |
| Rhys Archard | 29 July | Return to family in rural Victoria. | |
| Luke Darcy | 30 July | Frustrated and angry at game due to knee injuries. | |
| Anthony Koutoufides | 31 July | Hip injury; had already planned to retire at the end of the season. | |
| Mark Ricciuto | 16 August | Body could no longer cope with AFL football. | |
| Matthew Robbins | 24 August | Struggled throughout the year despite having a ripping 2006 season. | |
| Josh Mahoney | 24 August | Unable to hold down a regular position. | |
| Troy Cook | 24 August | It seemed the right time for him to leave the game. | |
| Shane Parker | 24 August | Was always going to struggle to play the year out and there was no way he could continue. | |
| Chris Scott | 25 August | Injury. | |
| Ray Hall | 28 August | Serious hip injury that had sidelined him for the entire 2007 season. | |
| Trent Knobel | 28 August | Persistent ankle injury. | |
| Kent Kingsley | 28 August | Injury. | |
| Darryl Wakelin | 29 August | Struggled with injury. | |
| Matthew Lappin | 29 August | To help his club focus on playing younger players. | |
| Nathan Brown | 29 August | Ready to start the next chapter of his life. | |
| Clint Bizzell | 29 August | Right time to do so. | |
| Byron Pickett | 31 August | Waning passion for the game. | |
| Chris Johnson | 31 August | Decided to leave the game – he was the last ever Fitzroy player in the AFL. | |
| Andrew Thompson | 1 September | Right time to do so. | |
| Matthew Clarke | 1 September | One year contract expired; he decided to leave the game. | |
| James Hird | 1 September | Right time to do so. | |
| Josh Wooden | 5 September | Nagging hip injury. | |
| Richie Vandenberg | 6 September | Due to a troublesome back injury, his body could not cope any more. | |
| Brett Voss | 18 September | Made the most of his time as an AFL footballer. | |
| Ben Dixon | 19 September | Inability of his body to prepare well enough for senior football. | |
| Rowan Jones | 19 September | Right time to do so. | |
| Glenn Archer | 22 September | Right time to do so. | |
| James Clement | 23 September | Family health; right time to do so. | |
| Joel Smith | 25 September | Thought the time was right, it was time to move on. | |
| Kasey Green | 26 September | Wanted to move back to Perth. | |
| Chris Heffernan | 2 October | His opportunities to play senior football beyond 2007 were limited. | |
| Scott Camporeale | 2 October | Injury. | |
| Chris Grant | 2 October | Injury and right time to do so. | |
| Aaron Hamill | 2 October | Injury and right time to do so; he felt it was in the best interest of the club moving forward. | |
| Mark Bolton | 3 October | Had been struggling to make the starting 22 in 2007 and recognised the right time to do so. | |
| Nathan Buckley | 5 October | Chronic hamstring injuries had curtailed his ability to remain fit for selection. | |
| Paul Licuria | 5 October | Battled injury and form problems this season. | |
| Nathan Ablett | 5 October | Ending career after winning 2007 Premiership. | |
| Justin Longmuir | 31 October | Chronic knee injury. | |
| Stephen Doyle | 31 October | Series of knee injuries. | |
| Lance Whitnall | 12 November | Knee injury. |
| Player | Club | Date |
2007 national draft
2008 rookie draft
Draft firsts
This draft has been the first ever draft where elevated NSW scholarship players were drafted to their respective clubs by the draft under the rule, clubs must give up their last selection in either rookie or senior draft in order to draft that elevated scholarship player.Selections by league
National and Pre-season draft selection totals by leagues:| League | Players selected | State |
| TAC Cup | 40 | VIC |
| WAFL | 18 | WA |
| SANFL | 4 | SA |
| QAFL | 3 | QLD |
| VFL | 2 | VIC |
| NTFL | 2 | NT |
| HFNL | 1 | VIC |