Queensland To Host AFL Draft

Queensland Events, Tourism Queensland and Gold Coast Tourism have poached one of AFL's biggest off-field glamour events - the AFL national draft.

After months of secret negotiations, the Queensland Government-funded agencies have succeeded in attracting the draft away from Victoria for the first time, AFL's traditional home.

The event is likely to be held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre as part of an AFL conference in November.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and AFL Chief Executive Andrew Demetriou confirmed the move last week, Premier Bligh described it as a "great coup".

Demetriou said the decision to take the draft to Queensland was made only after "careful consideration" but the AFL was convinced the location and timing were right.

Demetriou explained "the 2010 NAB Draft and industry conference are only four months out from the biggest step forward in AFL in Queensland since the Brisbane Lions won three consecutive premierships - with the 2011 entry of the Gold Coast Football Club and an AFL game in the region every round of the 2011 premiership season."

The AFL draft gives clubs that finished lowest on the league ladder the previous season first pick of the best young talent in the game.

This year's event will be an especially big affair because it marks 25 years since the first national draft in 1986.

The annual draft is expected to draw a crowd of 1,000 people and is broadcast live on Fox Sports to a television audience of hundreds of thousands.

The decision to take the draft outside Victoria reflects the growth of AFL as a national game.