The mid-season rookie draft is back on Tuesday, May 26, and the six-year history since its 2019 return has already produced a surprisingly deep list of AFL contributors. At the top of that list sits James Peatling, whose path from Giants Academy prospect to one of the competition’s most reliable midfield runners is the clearest example of what the draft was built to uncover.
Peatling was overlooked in two drafts after progressing through the Giants Academy, then joined the club’s VFL list and earned his chance midway through 2021. He went on to play 45 games for Adam Kingsley before leaving at the end of his contract in 2024, and his output this year has only strengthened the case for his place at No. 1. He is averaging a career-high 20.6 disposals and 4.5 clearances, numbers that show he has moved beyond survival mode and into genuine influence.
That profile matters because the mid-season draft has never been about polish on day one. It is about players who were missed, then forced their way in anyway. Peatling fits that story better than anyone, but he is not alone. Max Hall has made a similar climb after being recruited from Box Hill’s VFL program. He was the highest rated player in the AFL during a four-week stretch midway through last season, then backed it up with a breakout 27-disposal, three-goal game against Hawthorn. In 2026 he opened with 26 disposals and four goals against Melbourne in round one, then produced another 26 disposals and two goals across the weekend. Hall’s rise has been fast enough to make draft night hindsight look expensive.
Cooper Sharman sits in the same conversation. The forward was overlooked by the Giants Academy in his draft year, went to the SANFL with Woodville-West Torrens and eventually earned his chance at St Kilda. He has kicked 93 goals from 80 games, including a career-best 34 last season, when he also booted four goals in a big win against Fremantle. St Kilda rewarded that form with a two-year contract extension, and he is now locked in until at least 2028. For a player who began outside the system’s first pass, that is a substantial vindication.
John Noble’s journey is different, but the same logic applies. He joined Collingwood in the maiden mid-season draft after Richmond selected Marlion Pickett, then played 112 games for the club. He left after being left out of their finals campaigns in 2023 and 2024, but has since added another 35 matches for Gold Coast. There, he and Daniel Rioli have become the Suns’ primary ball movers out of the backline, turning a mid-season selection into a structural piece for a new club.
Sam Durham rounds out the top tier. He came from Richmond’s VFL program and has become one of the best inside ball winners in the competition. He has played 101 matches for Essendon and finished top three in the club’s best and fairest in successive seasons, proof that the draft can uncover more than depth. It can find players who tilt a team’s identity.
The mid-season rookie draft has always carried a simple promise: if a player is good enough, a missed start does not have to be the end. That is why the 2026 draft on Tuesday, May 26 matters beyond the names who will be called. It is another chance to find the next Peatling, the next Hall, the next Sharman — and the clubs that miss them may spend years watching someone else reap the benefit.
