It is time for the AFL National Draft, the annual festival in which whys and wherefores of a bunch of 18- and 19-year-old boys are debated with an intensity that in any other field of endeavour would be be considered unhealthy and perhaps a bit morbid.

It is the biggest event in the AFL's carefully manufactured off-season calendar with the added twist of a shift this year to the Gold Coast.

It makes perfect sense to stage this year's draft on the Gold Coast given the number of top-notch youngsters who will be plying their trade for the fledgling Suns this year. By the same token, next year's draft can take place at the Rooty Hill RSL ahead of the first season of the newly-minted GWS Giants.

BackPageLead won't be following the Emma Quayles and Paul Daffeys of the world, not to mention the hundreds of amateur draftniks on message boards such as Big Footy, in trying to scientifically predict who will go where on Thursday night. All those 190cm types, who can play short and tall, put their heads over the ball, are equally skilled with both feet, come from excellent programs and from great families, look the same to us. Get back to us in five years with our draft grades.

There is little intrigue, with David Swallow, Sam Day and Harley Bennell all expected to go top three and therefore straight to the Gold Coast. Truth be told, the draft won't hold much real excitement until 2012, when it is again uncompromised and the AFL, as several clubs have requested, makes it even more sophisticated by allowing clubs to trade players and picks as the draft is taking place. Only then will the draft become as interesting and as exciting a spectacle as it is in the United States where the NFL Draft captivates and dominates the sporting landscape for the three days over which it takes place.

What will be interesting about this draft is how many recycled players are taken, although once again, several of the bigger names, such as Cameron Bruce are holding out until the pre-season draft, where they hold greater sway over where they will play next season. What also bears watching is how many clubs try to unearth the next Michael Barlow, whose slashing form as a mature age rookie for Fremantle after crossing from Werribee made everyone sit up and take notice. North Ballarat's Isaac Smith shapes as this draft's Barlow and is the likely reason Geelong traded one of its compensatory picks received for Gary Ablett back to the Suns so that it had a mid first-round selection.

Fox Sports has listened to the critics after last year's telecast and is offering 'red button' technology so that the casual fans can watch the first round of the draft and then partake in the interviews and generally lightweight coverage. The network was justifiably criticised last year for talking through some of the big latter-round selections, such as Luke Ball to Collingwood.

This year, the purists among us can press the red button on their Foxtel remotes for full coverage of every pick, with stats and analysis. For many, this is how the draft should be covered and the prediction here is that it will be a popular innovation.

Footy won't disappear after this draft. Ablett trains with the Gold Coast for the first time next week and in spite of the looming start of the Ashes series, you can predict with reasonable certainty who will be on the back page of the Herald Sun the following morning.

But the biggest event next week will be the release of the new Anti-Siphoning regulations by the Federal Government, which will fundamentally alter the way we watch sport on TV. The AFL will be front and centre of the rulings and once the dust settles, the league can finalise the negotiations for its new TV deal, which it hopes will reap upwards of a billion dollars, but which if Channel Nine decides not to mount a bid, as suggested here on BPL, might be a bit less than that.