# List of AFL debuts in 2008

The 2008 season was the 112th completed season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level Australian rules football competition in Australia. There were 84 players who first participated in an AFL premiership match during the 2008 season. The regular season commenced on 20 March and concluded with the AFL Grand Final on 27 September, where the premiership was won by Hawthorn. This year celebrated the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Australian football as a sport in 1858.
The premiership season is inclusive of home-and-away and finals series matches only, and does not include pre-season matches or representative games (such as State of Origin or International rules football). Of those making their AFL debut, there were 17 rookie-listed players who were elevated to their clubs' senior list during the season. Rookie players receive a reduced salary in comparison to senior-listed players, and are not necessarily automatically eligible for selection in games, unless they are elevated.
In addition to those players making their debuts, there were 25 players who played their first game with a new AFL club after previously having played with another club in the league. Notably, former West Coast captain Chris Judd played his first game for Carlton in the first round of the season, after being traded in the preceding off-season. Cyril Rioli played every game for Hawthorn in the 2008 season, playing a total of 25 games (including the Grand Final)—the most of any debut player that year. Jack Anthony scored the most goals out of first-year players in 2008, attaining 25 goals in his 12 matches.

## Summary

Summary of debuts in 2008 :
| Club | AFL debuts | Change of club |
| Adelaide | 6 | 2 |
| Brisbane Lions | 7 | 1 |
| Carlton | 6 | 2 |
| Collingwood | 5 | 1 |
| Essendon | 8 | 0 |
| Fremantle | 4 | 2 |
| Geelong | 3 | 0 |
| Hawthorn | 5 | 1 |
| Melbourne | 7 | 0 |
| North Melbourne | 6 | 2 |
| Port Adelaide | 6 | 0 |
| Richmond | 1 | 3 |
| St Kilda | 4 | 5 |
| Sydney | 6 | 2 |
| West Coast | 8 | 1 |
| Western Bulldogs | 2 | 3 |
| Total | 84 | 25 |

## Debuts

Table headers and key :
| Age | Player's age as of debut |
| Round | Round when player's first premiership match occurred |
| Games | The number of games played in 2008 |
| Goals | The number of goals scored in 2008 |
| † | Denotes player who was elevated from club's rookie list |
Table of AFL debuts, with appearance details :
| Rd. | Name | Club | Age | Games | Goals |
| 1 | Jake Edwards | Carlton | 20 years, 74 days | 5 | 4 |
| 1 | Paul Stewart | Port Adelaide | 20 years, 254 days | 11 | 1 |
| 1 | Trent West | Geelong | 20 years, 155 days | 6 | 1 |
| 1 | Nathan Brown | Collingwood | 19 years, 96 days | 23 | 4 |
| 1 | Craig Bird | Sydney | 19 years, 61 days | 21 | 8 |
| 1 | Jarryn Geary | St Kilda | 19 years, 273 days | 10 | 0 |
| 1 | David Mackay | Adelaide | 19 years, 242 days | 19 | 4 |
| 1 | Kurt Tippett | Adelaide | 20 years, 320 days | 19 | 17 |
| 1 | Cale Morton | Melbourne | 18 years, 65 days | 19 | 12 |
| 1 | Cyril Rioli | Hawthorn | 18 years, 253 days | 25 | 24 |
| 1 | Cameron Stokes † | Hawthorn | 18 years, 265 days | 9 | 6 |
| 1 | Isaac Weetra | Melbourne | 18 years, 25 days | 2 | 0 |
| 1 | Scott Thompson | North Melbourne | 21 years, 320 days | 6 | 0 |
| 2 | Lachlan Henderson | Brisbane Lions | 18 years, 105 days | 8 | 3 |
| 2 | Brad Ebert | West Coast | 17 years, 362 days | 15 | 5 |
| 2 | Chris Masten | West Coast | 18 years, 332 days | 9 | 1 |
| 2 | Chris Mayne | Fremantle | 19 years, 148 days | 17 | 10 |
| 2 | Rhys Palmer | Fremantle | 19 years, 45 days | 20 | 10 |
| 2 | Darren Pfeiffer | Carlton | 20 years, 183 days | 7 | 4 |
| 2 | Harry Taylor | Geelong | 21 years, 292 days | 21 | 3 |
| 3 | Scott Selwood | West Coast | 18 years, 9 days | 9 | 2 |
| 3 | Matthew Kreuzer | Carlton | 18 years, 328 days | 20 | 13 |
| 3 | Austin Wonaeamirri † | Melbourne | 19 years, 187 days | 18 | 24 |
| 3 | Jack Anthony | Collingwood | 20 years, 78 days | 12 | 25 |
| 4 | Tayte Pears | Essendon | 18 years, 18 days | 5 | 2 |
| 4 | Ben Ross | North Melbourne | 19 years, 204 days | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Matthew Spangher | West Coast | 20 years, 355 days | 7 | 1 |
| 5 | Nick Smith † | Sydney | 19 years, 312 days | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | Clayton Hinkley | Fremantle | 19 years, 58 days | 5 | 2 |
| 5 | Jarrhan Jacky | Adelaide | 19 years, 14 days | 3 | 1 |
| 6 | Sharrod Wellingham † | Collingwood | 19 years, 293 days | 12 | 4 |
| 6 | Shane Mumford † | Geelong | 21 years, 295 days | 3 | 0 |
| 6 | Steven Browne | Carlton | 19 years, 85 days | 13 | 4 |
| 6 | James Polkinghorne | Brisbane Lions | 19 years, 97 days | 4 | 0 |
| 6 | Jesse White | Sydney | 20 years, 109 days | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | David Ellard † | Carlton | 19 years, 50 days | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | James Sellar | Adelaide | 19 years, 40 days | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | Josh Smith | North Melbourne | 22 years, 59 days | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | Jarrod Atkinson † | Essendon | 23 years, 73 days | 5 | 2 |
| 7 | Darcy Daniher | Essendon | 18 years, 226 days | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | David Myers | Essendon | 18 years, 309 days | 8 | 1 |
| 8 | Trent Cotchin | Richmond | 18 years, 40 days | 15 | 9 |
| 8 | Ryan Davis † | West Coast | 20 years, 355 days | 11 | 4 |
| 8 | Alan Obst † | North Melbourne | 20 years, 364 days | 3 | 0 |
| 8 | Shane Valenti † | Melbourne | 21 years, 110 days | 9 | 3 |
| 9 | Tim Houlihan | West Coast | 19 years, 104 days | 8 | 0 |
| 9 | Beau Wilkes † | West Coast | 22 years, 65 days | 14 | 1 |
| 9 | Josh Kennedy | Hawthorn | 19 years, 340 days | 3 | 0 |
| 9 | Jarryd Morton | Hawthorn | 19 years, 233 days | 8 | 0 |
| 10 | Dennis Armfield | Carlton | 21 years, 161 days | 9 | 2 |
| 10 | Gavin Urquhart | North Melbourne | 20 years, 13 days | 14 | 0 |
| 11 | Tom Bellchambers | Essendon | 18 years, 334 days | 3 | 0 |
| 11 | James Hawksley | Brisbane Lions | 19 years, 124 days | 4 | 0 |
| 11 | Callan Ward | Western Bulldogs | 18 years, 59 days | 6 | 2 |
| 12 | Andy Otten | Adelaide | 19 years, 30 days | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | Brent Renouf | Hawthorn | 20 years, 42 days | 8 | 0 |
| 13 | Jarryd Allen | St Kilda | 20 years, 158 days | 4 | 0 |
| 13 | Robert Eddy † | St Kilda | 20 years, 165 days | 13 | 3 |
| 13 | Ben McEvoy | St Kilda | 18 years, 354 days | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | Tom Collier | Brisbane Lions | 19 years, 88 days | 6 | 1 |
| 14 | Stefan Martin | Melbourne | 21 years, 225 days | 8 | 0 |
| 14 | Josh Head | Fremantle | 25 years, 83 days | 3 | 1 |
| 15 | Todd Goldstein | North Melbourne | 20 years, 11 days | 3 | 2 |
| 16 | Bradd Dalziell | Brisbane Lions | 21 years, 126 days | 7 | 1 |
| 16 | Matthew O'Dwyer † | Sydney | 19 years, 365 days | 2 | 1 |
| 17 | Addam Maric | Melbourne | 18 years, 100 days | 5 | 2 |
| 18 | Scott Clouston † | Brisbane Lions | 21 years, 182 days | 2 | 1 |
| 18 | Ryan Brabazon | Sydney | 21 years, 221 days | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | Patrick Veszpremi | Sydney | 18 years, 337 days | 6 | 9 |
| 18 | Mitchell Farmer | Port Adelaide | 19 years, 212 days | 3 | 0 |
| 18 | Nick Salter † | Port Adelaide | 21 years, 4 days | 2 | 3 |
| 19 | Ryan Williams | Port Adelaide | 19 years, 304 days | 2 | 0 |
| 19 | Chris Dawes | Collingwood | 20 years, 85 days | 6 | 5 |
| 19 | John McCarthy | Collingwood | 18 years, 264 days | 6 | 3 |
| 19 | Rhys Magin † | Essendon | 19 years, 159 days | 4 | 2 |
| 20 | Matthew Westhoff | Port Adelaide | 20 years, 71 days | 3 | 3 |
| 20 | Patrick Dangerfield | Adelaide | 18 years, 133 days | 2 | 0 |
| 20 | Tony Notte | West Coast | 18 years, 123 days | 2 | 0 |
| 21 | Cale Hooker | Essendon | 19 years, 314 days | 2 | 0 |
| 21 | Marlon Motlop | Port Adelaide | 18 years, 128 days | 2 | 1 |
| 21 | Pearce Hanley † | Brisbane Lions | 19 years, 282 days | 2 | 0 |
| 22 | Sam Reid | Western Bulldogs | 18 years, 297 days | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | Jack Grimes | Melbourne | 19 years, 112 days | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | John Williams | Essendon | 19 years, 328 days | 1 | 0 |

## Change of clubs

Table headers and key :
| Round | Round when player's first premiership match occurred |
| Games | The number of games played in 2008 |
| Goals | The number of goals scored in 2008 |
| Previous club(s) | Player's previous AFL clubs, with the yearspan of their appearances |
| † | Denotes player who was elevated from club's rookie list |
| Players are only included if they previously played a match with another AFL club. ||
Table of players, with appearance details :
| Rd. | Name | Club | Games | Goals | Previous club(s) |
| 1 | Stuart Dew | Hawthorn | 15 | 7 | Port Adelaide (1997–2006) |
| 1 | Charlie Gardiner | St Kilda | 12 | 9 | Geelong (2002–2007) |
| 1 | Michael Gardiner | St Kilda | 9 | 1 | West Coast (1997–2006) |
| 1 | Richard Hadley | Carlton | 6 | 2 | Brisbane Lions (2001–2007) |
| 1 | Ben Hudson | Western Bulldogs | 23 | 2 | Adelaide (2004–2007) |
| 1 | Mark Johnson | Fremantle | 14 | 8 | Essendon (1999–2007) |
| 1 | Travis Johnstone | Brisbane Lions | 18 | 17 | Melbourne (1998–2007) |
| 1 | Chris Judd | Carlton | 21 | 15 | West Coast (2002–2007) |
| 1 | Steven King | St Kilda | 22 | 5 | Geelong (1996–2007) |
| 1 | Martin Mattner | Sydney | 24 | 4 | Adelaide (2002–2007) |
| 1 | Jordan McMahon | Richmond | 22 | 6 | Western Bulldogs (2001–2007) |
| 1 | Sam Power | North Melbourne | 22 | 2 | Western Bulldogs (2002–2007) |
| 1 | Adam Schneider | St Kilda | 19 | 28 | Sydney (2003–2007) |
| 1 | Brad Symes | Adelaide | 16 | 2 | Port Adelaide (2004–2007) |
| 1 | Scott Welsh | Western Bulldogs | 24 | 43 | North Melbourne (1996–1999) Adelaide (2000–2007) |
| 1 | Cameron Wood | Collingwood | 13 | 6 | Brisbane Lions (2005–2007) |
| 2 | Tim Callan | Western Bulldogs | 15 | 1 | Geelong (2003–2006) |
| 3 | Mitch Morton | Richmond | 17 | 35 | West Coast (2005–2007) |
| 4 | Sean Dempster | St Kilda | 19 | 3 | Sydney (2005–2007) |
| 6 | Josh Kennedy | West Coast | 7 | 7 | Carlton (2006–2007) |
| 7 | Henry Playfair | Sydney | 11 | 10 | Geelong (2003–2007) |
| 8 | Kepler Bradley | Fremantle | 9 | 12 | Essendon (2004–2007) |
| 11 | Benjamin Davies | North Melbourne | 2 | 0 | Collingwood (2005–2006) |
| 16 | Brad Moran | Adelaide | 7 | 6 | North Melbourne (2006–2007) |
| 20 | Tristan Cartledge † | Richmond | 2 | 1 | Essendon (2005–2006) |