2024 Player Draft

Softball Australia would like to advise that applications for the 2024 National Championships Player Draft are now open.

The player draft ensures a fair distribution of key players who are on the fringe of selection and unable to be utilised by their home state, or who would not be able attend the National Championships because their home state is not participating.

Accordingly, with some minor exceptions, players are only eligible to enter the draft if their home state is not entering the National Championships, or if they were not selected by their home state and are endorsed by their state to enter the draft.

The draft can also allow states to enter teams where attendance would otherwise have not been possible, and is open to all players from Under 14s to Open age.

Player Draft Regulations Extract

The draft will take place approximately eight weeks prior to the Event.

The player draft ensures fair distribution of key players unable to be utilised by their home state. In some instances, it enables states to enter teams where attendance would otherwise not be achievable.
The draft is aimed at players who may be on the fringe of selection in their home state or unable to attend due to non-participation by the home state.

The player draft applies to U14 to open-grade Events.

Player eligibility

Players are eligible to enter the draft under the following circumstances:

- An athlete stood for selection in their state, was not selected, and is endorsed for the draft by their state.
- A player is cleared to another state after the eligibility date (eg. 1 August for January Championships) and has not had the opportunity to try out for the state they were registered with as at the eligibility date due to trials occurring after the date the player cleared.
- The player’s state is not entering a team in the Event.
- Ex-patriot players: only ex-patriot players residing interstate and released for the draft are eligible to enter negotiations with the state of origin prior to the draft. This is the only circumstance where contact can be made with a player nominating for the draft prior to the conduct of the draft.

Communications

State draft representatives are permitted to converse with other state representatives in relation to attributes of players participating in the draft.

Pre-draft selections and negotiations are not permitted.

Pre-draft contact with players is not permitted, other than with ex-patriot players eligible to play for their state.

Post draft selections

A player who nominates for the draft and is not selected at the time the draft is conducted, will be placed in a draft pool list.

Players placed in the draft pool list may still be selected after the draft by a state who has not used all their permitted draft selections.

- Where an eligible state wishes to select a player from the draft pool list, they must advise Softball Australia’s Events Coordinator via email of the player they wish to select.

- Players in the draft pool list may be selected by a state up until the Friday two weeks prior to the beginning of the Event.

- Where a player in the draft pool list is offered the opportunity to be selected after the draft, the player has the right to decline the opportunity without losing their bond payment.

If a player declines the opportunity to be selected by a state after the draft, their name will be removed from the draft pool list and they are not eligible to be selected by another state. They can however be selected by their home state.

Player Draft Nomination forms are available here.

Registering for the player draft is an acceptance that the applicant will participate for any State that selects them as a representative. Withdrawal after selection in the draft will still result in the full levy being charged to the selected player. Should the levy not be paid, the Softball Australia Unfinancial Policy will be applied.

The sequence for selecting players in the draft is based on the reverse order of state seeding, with the lowest seeded state having the first pick, the second lowest state having the second pick, and so on. Higher ranked states may also be ineligible to select players in the early rounds.

A player who nominates for the draft but is not selected will be placed in a pool list. Players in the pool list may still be selected after the draft by a state who has not used all of their draft selections, up until two weeks prior to the beginning of the Event.

Administration and management of the draft is coordinated by Softball Australia. if you require further information or clarification about any aspect of the player draft, please contact events@softball.org.au

Player Draft Closing Dates

The Player Draft will close for each event on the following dates: