HERE WE GO!

The trades are flying in now with the first pick less than an hour away.

According to AFL.com.au’s Cal Twomey, this deal between Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs is one of several in the works.

The Lions are obviously doing everything to match bids on father-son prospect Levi Ashcroft and academy prospect Sam Marshall.

Despite James Barrat sneaking into AFL.com.au’s fan-voted top 10 (good to know James has a lot of mates), I don’t think we’ll be hearing from him tonight.

Wouldn’t be shocked if he went early tomorrow night though. He’s a serious tough bugger, third-tall height who can play at either end of the ground. One of the best things I saw from him this year though was the tagging job he put on Harvey Langford in the wildcard game. Recruiters would have loved his total commitment to that role.

One of the more interesting subplots of this first round is trying to figure out where a bid comes for Isaac Kako, who is set to head to Essendon as an NGA prospect.

The Bombers traded out of pick 9 anticipating that selection would get absorbed by an early bid for Kako.

St Kilda, which owns picks 7 and 8, have been linked with a bid for the talented small forward.

This is so good from Richmond!

The Tigers were rocked by the death of their former recruitment manager Chris Toce earlier this year during the trade period.

It appears Toce’s son Harry will have a little role to play in the Tigers’ draft proceedings tonight as a tribute to his father.

There was a school of thought a month or so ago that Bo Allan would be in the conversation for his native WA clubs, with West Coast and Freo holding picks 12 and 14. I reckon you can forget about that now.

The question seems to be who pulls the trigger on Allan first. Richmond at six is a chance, as are the Saints with either of those two. Melbourne will fancy it with their second pick, and he won’t get past Richmond’s 10 or 11.

I find him a very interesting prospect. An incredible athlete and a fierce competitor, but there is a lot of refinement needed in his game, particularly with his kicking and decision making under pressure. Looks like clubs are ready to take the punt though.

These are but a few of the big questions still to be answered in this draft. We won’t know how things have fully shaken out until tomorrow night but we’ll get an idea of the shape of things once the first round wraps up tonight. Things I’m looking out for:

• How tricky do the Tigers get? Are they strategic with the timings of their selections, gambling on some players and reaching for others, with so many picks to play with?
• I’m a massive Sid Draper fan. Surely the Crows don’t look anywhere else with pick four?
• If not with pick two, North Melbourne must have some back up plan to get at least one tall in, right? Surely?
• Do the Saints split seven or eight if they don’t get access to a sliding midfielder?
• Who will be the first tall to fall and where? Alix Tauru? Harry Armstrong? Jobe Shanahan?
• The Eagles took a risk in trading out of the top 10. How do they follow that up?
• Feels like there is at least one big pick trade in the offing. I’m watching North, Freo, West Coast, GWS and Sydney on that front.

If you need to brush up on who some of the players that will be selected are, fear not!

Dean has ranked this year’s top 30 prospects heading into the first round of the draft.

West Coast fans who have held out hopes of trading back into the top 10 of this year’s draft might want to look away.

AFL.com.au’s Cal Twomey with a little bit of info on what the Eagles (who currently have pick 12) are planning to do.

West Coast of course originally had pick 3 before trading it to Carlton.

Good evening! I’ll be on deck with Chris tonight, adding my two-bob’s worth in after each selection and analysing each move and pick these clubs make.

It’s been a really interesting draft to follow this year. I feel like there has been a pretty well established top seven or eight all year, but what quickly became clear was a) there were few over-and-above standouts among that group, and b) the amount of draftable talent building up behind them was stronger than in most recent years.

Everyone who has heralded the depth of this draft is telling the truth. Some very, very good players will be picked late tonight and well into tomorrow night. But the first round is all about the elite, top-end players your club needs to lead them to a flag. And that’s what is up for grabs tonight.

We’re going to have a few of the game’s absolute icons in the house tonight by the sounds of it!

The best part? This list doesn’t even include Dustin Martin, with rumours floating around that Dusty will present whoever is taken No.1 overall with their Tigers jumper.

How good!

Good evening footy fans and welcome to ABC Sport’s live coverage of the 2024 AFL Draft!

The draft is once again a two-night event this year, and tonight’s coverage will see all the first round picks made.

Tomorrow night is where the picks from the second round and onwards are made.

There has been much anticipation about this year’s draft class, which many experts have called one of the best in maybe league history.

Richmond will make the first pick, and has an incredible SEVEN first-rounders.

It remains to be seen just how many of those they use and how many are used in trades.

I’ll be on hand to bring you all the coverage of each pick as it happens, while my colleague Dean Bilton will provide expert analysis on all the selections.