About the only thing we don't know about Tom Scully, the likely no.1 selection at Thursday's AFL national draft is how many sugars he has in his caffe latte. By the time the draft rolls around, we will probably know that as well.

When it comes to the draft, it is now a case of information overload. There is practically nothing about the likely top 25 or 30 players that we don't already know. Not just height, weight and position, but strengths, weaknesses and at which parts of the draft camp they really excelled. We know more about their medical histories than we do anyone outside our immediate families.

We know how they got into footy, who they barrack for, who they model themselves on and what sort of player they most closely resemble. We know that they'll be happy to move interstate if required, even if in actual fact, they are not.

The AFL draft has become such a massive part of the yearly footy cycle that there are now footy journalists who own the "draft beat" so to speak. Matty Burgan from the AFL website was the first to cover the draft and emerging footy talent in reasonable detail, although The Age's Emma Quayle is now recognised as the oracle, thanks to her excellent book, The Draft, which was released last year.

The amount of space the draft receives in the daily newspapers has increased five-fold in the last few years, but electronic media has taken some time to catch up. Channel Seven used to televise the draft live on a Friday morning in the late 90s, but the event dropped off the radar for a time. There was no live telecast at all of the 2001 draft that spawned, among others, Chris Judd, Luke Hodge, Jimmy Bartel and Gary Ablett. Channel Ten owned the rights to the live draft once it moved to Saturday mornings in 2002, but opted for a highlights show that afternoon rather than show it as it happened.

Indeed, the AFL website has been the home of the draft for the last few years with all sorts of trackers and updates and until this year, a live webcast.

But perhaps discovering the sleeping giant on its hands, Fox Sports has assumed the TV rights to the event and will show it live on Thursday night from 6.30, opening with a bizarre countdown of the top selections from no.10 to no.1, followed (hopefully) by the remaining 80 or so picks. Fox are promoting the announcement of the top 10 picks on their ads for the draft coverage, so perhaps the diehards will need to turn to the radio broadcasts on 3AW, SEN and 5AA to follow the other 80 or so selections.

What does the spark of interest in the draft tell us? Firstly, that footy remains the king of sports. The draft clashes with the first day of the First Test against the West Indies, yet there will be more journalists in the draft room than in the Gabba press box, and heaps more coverage generally, especially in the southern states. The draft offers an oasis in an otherwise long and barren footy off-season, particularly for the clubs that didn't make the finals and have therefore been out of mind and out of sight for the best part of three months.

The draft also offers us the "loser makes good" stories. Melbourne will show off Scully and Jack Trengove and will bask in triumph, conveniently casting aside the two years of crap football that cleared the way for them having the first two selections. Dustin Martin will be hyped as the best thing to happen to the Richmond midfield since Billy Barrot. Anthony Morabito will be the cure to all Fremantle's ills.

It all seems silly (and perhaps a bit unhealthy) to take so much interest in a bunch of 17 and 18 year old boys. But come 6.30 Thursday evening, we won't be able to help ourselves.