While the door won't necessarily be sealed shut for every AFL aspirant who gets overlooked for a second time this week, following on from the national draft on Tuesday, the grim reality for many is that their AFL dream will be extinguished on Friday.

The rookie draft has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1997 to become one of the most effective (and cost effective) ways for clubs to acquire talent.

Champion players such as former West Coast ruckman Dean Cox, triple-premiership Hawk Josh Gibson, Fremantle giant Aaron Sandilands and Sydney's former captain courageous Brett Kirk all got their first shot at the big time via the rookie draft.

The rookie draft process is a lot more simplified and streamlined than the national draft in the sense that it is not a physical meeting.

All 18 clubs are linked using Microsoft Live Meeting technology, enabling them to lodge their selections from their home state or club base, with the AFL Football Operations Department running it from the AFL offices.

It's a far cry from all the fanfare and over-production in Adelaide on Tuesday night, with players picked in the rookie draft receiving a small fraction of the exposure that their national draft counterparts were afforded.

However, for the average footy fan that has little to no idea about the widely-unknown youngsters that make up the vast bulk of draft selections, the rookie draft has actually become more interesting than the national draft.

With the advent of the delisted free agency mechanism, whereby clubs can sign discarded players from their rivals with ease during designated time periods, hardly any freshly-delisted AFL players are picked up in the national draft anymore.

But it's a different story for the rookie draft with clubs waiting for the final draft of the year to add more experience to their playing list at the AFL's version of a bargain price – a rookie contract.

Since free agency was introduced in 2012, only three recently-delisted AFL players have been selected in four national drafts - and none in the last three years. Conversely, 39 have been picked up in three rookie drafts.

Fifteen delisted players are guaranteed of being re-drafted by their former club if they're still available on Friday: Jackson Paine (Brisbane Lions), Lachlan Keeffe (Collingwood), Josh Thomas (Collingwood), Will Hams (Essendon), Josh Deluca (Fremantle), Anthony Morabito (Fremantle), Danny Stanley (Gold Coast), Alex Woodward (Hawthorn), Viv Michie (Melbourne), Majak Daw (North Melbourne), Kane Mitchell (Port Adelaide), Josh Saunders (St Kilda), Harry Marsh (Sydney), Alec Waterman (West Coast) and Brant Colledge (West Coast).

Other noteworthy delisted players

Brodie Martin (Adelaide)

Jed Adcock (Brisbane Lions)

Cameron Giles (Carlton)

Nick Holman (Carlton)

Matthew Watson (Carlton)

Sam Dwyer (Collingwood)

Alex Browne (Essendon)

Ryan Crowley (Fremantle)

James Kelly (Geelong)

Tim Golds (Greater Western Sydney)

Rohan Bail (Melbourne)

Jordie McKenzie (Melbourne)

Scott McMahon (North Melbourne)

Matt Dea (Richmond)

Nathan Gordon (Richmond)

Farren Ray (St Kilda)

The rookie draft is scheduled to start at 11.10am on Friday, following on from the pre-season draft at 11.05am.