Review 2025 National Draft Thread | Dovaston #16 / Thredgold #26 / Mikunda #48

[Recently retired]

The 27th pick is irrelevant to the discussion because North live-traded to specifically take Matt Whitlock, which is different to trading for a pick pre-draft where they'd later find out who was available.

How good or bad this trade is will come down to how Whitlock, and the player North take with the R2 pick from the deal, compare to the players available at the R1 pick Richmond received. We won't know that for a while yet.

 

[The Dingrel]

For those of you who watch the juniors closely thoughts on Beau Adinsall? Suns Academy with the Suns probably struggling to find the points for all the other first rounders. Goes to school with and plays with one of my Collingwood mates sons (reckons he's a jet and would love him at the pies) but also reckons he's likely to go higher than Twomey's rankings in the 20's.

 

[MrBlueandWhite]

Firstly, I am not in any way an expert on anything football related. There are many posters on here who have more informed opinions than I. However...

Given that we had finished bottom 2 for the previous 5 seasons, and the only experienced additions to the playing group were Parker, Darling, and Daniel, then only a supreme optimist would have forseen a climb out of the bottom 3. The only two teams we looked better than going into the season were West Coast and Richmond. Purely from a risk management perspective you would have to assume that a bottom 3 finish is much more likely than not, so therefore not trade your first rounder. But Brady got dudded in the Daniel deal, and they were so desperate to get one of the many talls on offer from last year's draft that they gambled the future first and rolled snake eyes. North can ill afford to gamble away its future on the roll of a dice.

I don't disagree, it is a gamble and when purely shown in the media North potentially traded pick 2 or 3 for pick 27 last year it looks shocking.

Without knowing the details of which draftees are aligned to particular clubs, in reality, pick 2 or 3 probably isn't going to get North the 2nd or 3rd best player in this draft. Whitlock being quite young and with plenty of development, we thought it was better off using this year's 1st rounder on him. Now with that context, I don't think it looks as bad. However, the proof will be over the coming years on how this draft performs vs Whitlock.

 

[Passmore]

Can someone who's got more draft expertise please explain why the media and footy supporters are roasting North about trading our first round pick?

Is it not possible that we expected to finish we were at, but we knew this was going to be a highly compromised draft (also lacking depth) and finishing bottom 2 or 3 wasn't going to help us get access to the best talent anyway?

I think we have enough talent on the list, I reckon our focus should be bringing in quality individuals that improve our culture and performance standards/consistency . Either via draft or through recruits like Darling and Parker.

On face value it looks horrible and it’s an easy target.

Reality is we won’t know for some time whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent. And it’s not the way of the world nowadays to patiently wait. Draft hauls are rated before anyone sets foot n their new club FFS.

 

[chubbspeterson]

For those of you who watch the juniors closely thoughts on Beau Adinsall? Suns Academy with the Suns probably struggling to find the points for all the other first rounders. Goes to school with and plays with one of my Collingwood mates sons (reckons he's a jet and would love him at the pies) but also reckons he's likely to go higher than Twomey's rankings in the 20's.

Should be top 15. Maybe he's dropped because of the 181cm height or perhaps not super athletic?
Have to wait for the combine results I guess, but he looked like he'd be a very good player from what I saw.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Can someone who's got more draft expertise please explain why the media and footy supporters are roasting North about trading our first round pick?

Is it not possible that we expected to finish we were at, but we knew this was going to be a highly compromised draft (also lacking depth) and finishing bottom 2 or 3 wasn't going to help us get access to the best talent anyway?

I think we have enough talent on the list, I reckon our focus should be bringing in quality individuals that improve our culture and performance standards/consistency . Either via draft or through recruits like Darling and Parker.

Because pick 2/3 could be a potential superstar and the pure numbers of 27 (Whitlock) and 20 (early 30's after bids) exchanged for pick 2 (might be 6/7 after Oscar Allen compo and a few academy bids come in before it) is horrendous.
If we did the same F1 trade and took another tall with the Daniel pick (Jack Whitlock or Matt Shanahan), I don't think there'd be as much angst because you could probably see two future pieces in our team.

I think the club would've expected to get out of the bottom three, but probably not bottom six.
And yes they would have assessed that the draft would be highly compromised and not all that deep.
Given they reportedly offered our two F2's (20/21 which will be 30's with bids) for Jack Whitlock on night 2 last year, it's pretty fair to say they weren't that keen on this draft and rated the talls in last years draft a different level of talent.
Other than Cooper Duff-Tytler as a ruck/fwd (likely gone before our pick anyway and we have Taylor Goad), key forward Aidan Schubert (the most impressive and consistent performer) and key back Harry Dean (tied to Blues as F/S), the talls have been pretty inconsistent this year in terms of their performances.
Potentially there is a chance we trade up to take Archie Ludowyke or we just sit and take one of Cody Curtin, Liam Heatherton or Tairon Ah-Mu.

It's also likely they assessed given they had FOS/Colby/LDU/Wardlaw/Urquhart/Powell/Phillips/Simpkin/Parker as midfielders already, they weren't going to take a midfielder in the top 6 and were probably more likely to be trading back in the order to take a key forward like Aidan Schubert/Archie Ludowyke/Cody Curtin in this years draft.
But potentially we could've taken a kid like 183cm Josh Lindsay (BFNAAK a bonus) as a wing/hbf with a penetrating left foot who could've added some quality ball use to our team, but what's done is done.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Unveiled: Every young gun invited to this year’s AFL draft combine

The combine invitations are out, headlined by No.1 pick contenders Zeke Uwland, Willem Duursma and Cooper Duff-Tytler. Here’s a peek behind the curtain of the class of 2025.

www.theage.com.au

Vic Metro
National

• Oskar Ainsworth, 186cm (Western Jets)
• Sam Allen, 183cm (Oakleigh Chargers)
• Thomas Burton, 178cm (Western Jets)
• Jack Dalton, 178cm (Sandringham Dragons)
• Will Darcy, 197cm (Oakleigh Chargers)
• Finn Davis, 188cm (Western Jets)
• Lachlan Dovaston, 179cm (Eastern Ranges)
• Cooper Duff-Tytler, 200cm (Calder Cannons)
• Hussien El Achkar, 171cm (Calder Cannons)
• Louis Emmett, 200cm (Oakleigh Chargers)
• Oliver Greeves, 191cm (Eastern Ranges)
• Sam Grlj, 182cm (Oakleigh Chargers)
• Hunter Holmes, 187cm (Oakleigh Chargers)
• Jack Ison, 190cm (Oakleigh Chargers)
• Max Kondogiannis, 190cm (Oakleigh Chargers)
• Archie Ludowyke, 197cm (Sandringham Dragons)
• Zac McCarthy, 199cm (Oakleigh Chargers)
• Adam Sweid, 175cm (Calder Cannons)
• Xavier Taylor, 191cm (Eastern Ranges)

State

• Xavier Bamert, 186cm (Sandringham Dragons)
• Kye Fincher, 185cm (Sandringham Dragons)
• Felix Kneipp, 179cm (Calder Cannons)
• Marcus Krasnadamskis, 201cm (Eastern Ranges)
• Jacob Marron, 195cm (Western Jets)
• Thomas McGuane, 178cm (Western Jets)
• Sullivan Robey, 192cm (Eastern Ranges)
• Aaron Sharkie, 184cm (Oakleigh Chargers)
• Oskar Taylor, 183cm (Eastern Ranges)
• Rory Wright, 184cm (Sandringham Dragons)

Vic Country
National

• Tairon Ah-Mu, 199cm (Dandenong Stingrays)
• Talor Bryne, 174cm (GWV Rebels)
• Harry Dean, 193cm (Murray Bushrangers)
• Willem Duursma, 193cm (Gippsland Power)
• Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves, 185cm (Dandenong Stingrays)
• Josh Lindsay, 184cm (Geelong Falcons)
• Jesse Mellor, 184cm (Geelong Falcons)
• Hugo Mikunda, 181cm (Geelong Falcons)
• Riley Onley, 194cm (Murray Bushrangers)

State

• Zac Harding, 199cm (Murray Bushrangers)
• Thomas Matthews, 172cm (Gippsland Power)
• Ben Rongdit, 183cm (Geelong Falcons)
• Callum Smith, 190cm (Dandenong Stingrays)
• Mitch Stevens, 186cm (Gippsland Power)

SA
National

• Sam Ainsworth, 198cm (Norwood)
• Harley Barker, 187cm (Sturt)
• Sam Cumming, 184cm (North Adelaide)
• Louis Kellaway, 183cm (Sturt)
• Matthew LeRay, 190cm (Central Districts)
• Mitch Marsh, 191cm (West Adelaide)
• Cameron Nairn, 187cm (Central Districts)
• Blake Oudshoon-Bennier, 182cm (North Adelaide)
• Zane Peucker, 179cm (Woodville West Torrens)
• Jevan Phillipou, 182cm (Woodville West Torrens)
• Noah Roberts-Thomson, 181cm (Sturt)
• Aidan Schubert, 197cm (Central Districts)
• Dyson Sharp, 187cm (Central Districts)
• Blake Thredgold, 195cm (Sturt)

State

• Jett Dahlitz, 187cm (Sturt)
• Elliott Duffield, 193cm (South Adelaide)
• Jim Kelly, 180cm (Norwood)
• Balyn O'Brien, 187cm (Norwood)
• Bryce Sanders, 199cm (North Adelaide)
• Latrelle Sumner-Pickett, 182cm (Glenelg)

WA
National

• Cody Curtin, 200cm (Claremont)
• Kobe Evans, 187cm (Perth)
• Jacob Farrow, 188cm (West Perth)
• Fred Rodriguez, 184cm (South Fremantle)
• Sam Swadling, 187cm (West Perth)
• Wes Walley, 184cm (Subiaco)
• Tylah Williams, 175cm (Swan Districts)

State

• Charlie Banfield, 191cm (Claremont)
• Ryda Luke, 185cm (South Fremantle)
• Thomas Phillips, 187cm (WA/Oakleigh Chargers)
• Cooper Ramsay, 203cm (East Fremantle)
• Hudson Walker, 180cm (Subiaco)
• Toby Whan, 183cm (South Fremantle)

QLD
National

• Beau Addinsall, 180cm (Gold Coast Suns academy)
• Daniel Annable, 184cm (Brisbane Lions academy)
• Koby Coulson, 180cm (Gold Coast Suns academy)
• Jai Murray, 187cm (Gold Coast Suns academy)
• Dylan Patterson, 183cm (Gold Coast Suns academy)
• Tyan Prindable, 181cm (Brisbane Lions academy)
• Zeke Uwland, 180cm (Gold Coast Suns academy)
• Isaac Waller, 203cm (Brisbane Lions academy)

State

• Harrison Bridge, 182cm (Brisbane Lions academy)
• Tai Hayes, 183cm (Southport)
• Kalani White, 198cm (Gold Coast Suns academy)

Tasmania
National
*Avery Thomas, 186cm (Tasmania)
State

• Jasper Hay, 199cm (Tasmania Devils)
• Jack Miller, 181cm (Tasmania Devils)

NSW
National

• Lachlan Carmichael, 186cm (Sydney Swans academy)
• Noah Chamberlain, 192cm (Sydney Swans academy)
• Max King, 192cm (Sydney Swans academy)
• Harry Kyle, 189cm (Sydney Swans academy)
• Liam Hetherton, 198cm (Allies/Murray Bushrangers)

NT
National
*Taj Murray, 201cm (NT/North Adelaide)

Other than the usual suspects I've mentioned that I'm fans of, I'm interested to look at these guys below.
Pretty sure most have played as key defenders, so maybe there could be a few late to look at.
I've heard of Jasper Hay and seen one SA game from Thredgold and looks athletic in his SAFL highlights.
If anyone knows more about them, I'd be keen to know.

Blake Thredgold, 195cm (Sturt)
Jacob Marron, 195cm (Western Jets)
Bryce Sanders, 199cm (North Adelaide)
Jasper Hay, 199cm (Tasmania Devils)

 

[FlyHigh18]

So who is everyone taking with pick ~6 instead of Matt Whitlock?

Still haven’t heard from the ones claiming it was the worst deal in history.

Name me a player that makes the comparison to Whitlock the worst deal ever.

 

[giantroo]

 

[The Nostradamus]

So who is everyone taking with pick ~6 instead of Matt Whitlock?

Still haven’t heard from the ones claiming it was the worst deal in history.

Name me a player that makes the comparison to Whitlock the worst deal ever.

dyson sharp, willem duursma, josh lindsay

 

[The Dingrel]

So who is everyone taking with pick ~6 instead of Matt Whitlock?

Still haven’t heard from the ones claiming it was the worst deal in history.

Name me a player that makes the comparison to Whitlock the worst deal ever.

Matt Whitlock.....talls take time, which tall in this draft has kicked 4 goals in a game against Geelong's VFL team? Waiting to take a tall in this draft is just wasting time. Goad, W Dawson, and Whitlock will all be fine players, but they take time. Cadman hitting his straps this season. And yet, had we have held onto our first rounder and taken "best available" (no doubt a mid), people would be moaning about not addressing needs in KPP department. If anything, id be seeing if we can trade for his brother this year.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Matt Whitlock.....talls take time, which tall in this draft has kicked 4 goals in a game against Geelong's VFL team? Waiting to take a tall in this draft is just wasting time. Goad, W Dawson, and Whitlock will all be fine players, but they take time. Cadman hitting his straps this season. And yet, had we have held onto our first rounder and taken "best available" (no doubt a mid), people would be moaning about not addressing needs in KPP department. If anything, id be seeing if we can trade for his brother this year.

True. Talls do take time. I'd rather we just have taken Matt with the Daniel pick in an ideal world.
But if we traded our F1 for Matt and then took another tall with the Daniel pick, then I could've lived with that.

In terms of this years draft, for me it's down to wing/hbf Josh Lindsay and kpf Aidan Schubert.
Dyson Sharp we wouldn't be looking at imo given we have enough midfielders with FOS/LDU/Wardlaw/Colby.
Willem Duursma will go 1 or 2, but I wasn't that enamored with his decision making. But he'll be a good player.
Cooper Duff-Tytler as a ruck/fwd looks promising, but with Goady there, I don't think we'd look at him over Schubert.

Well just on his brother Jacklock. Could we make a play for him if NWM picks Port?

 

[shimaburnsgrieg]

On face value it looks horrible and it’s an easy target.

Reality is we won’t know for some time whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent. And it’s not the way of the world nowadays to patiently wait. Draft hauls are rated before anyone sets foot n their new club FFS.

It looks horrible because it is horrible.

The equivalent of throwing in an ace (pick 2) for a pair of 6's (pick 27 and pick 29ish).

Yeah of course we might get lucky and Matlock becomes a good player and the equivalent players in this draft aren't as good but that is long odds.

Even dud Black Jack players win the odd hand throwing in their ace for a pair of 6's.

I'd love to be the dealer playing Black Jack down at Arden St.

 

[ferball]

It looks horrible because it is horrible.

The equivalent of throwing in an ace (pick 2) for a pair of 6's (pick 27 and pick 29ish).

Yeah of course we might get lucky and Matlock becomes a good player and the equivalent players in this draft aren't as good but that is long odds.

Even dud Black Jack players win the odd hand throwing in their ace for a pair of 6's.

I'd love to be the dealer playing Black Jack down at Arden St.

How? Are the sitting on an ace and a nine?

 

[roos_fanatic08]

So who is everyone taking with pick ~6 instead of Matt Whitlock?

Still haven’t heard from the ones claiming it was the worst deal in history.

Name me a player that makes the comparison to Whitlock the worst deal ever.

If we didn’t **** ourselves in the Daniel trade, then we would’ve had our natural 2nd rounder last year and a top 2 pick this year.

One of M.Whitlock, J. Whitlock, Jobe Shanahan, Noah Mraz or Kayle Gerreyn would’ve been available. Any combination of them with Duursma/Sharp is going to be better than Whitlock, Daniel and pick 30+.

It’s all about value. We got terrible value from the Daniel trade then from a points perspective gave up way too much to trade back in to get Whitlock. Last years trade period will hold us back for a further 5 years, you can take it to the bank.

 

[Passmore]

Can someone who's got more draft expertise please explain why the media and footy supporters are roasting North about trading our first round pick?

Is it not possible that we expected to finish we were at, but we knew this was going to be a highly compromised draft (also lacking depth) and finishing bottom 2 or 3 wasn't going to help us get access to the best talent anyway?

I think we have enough talent on the list, I reckon our focus should be bringing in quality individuals that improve our culture and performance standards/consistency . Either via draft or through recruits like Darling and Parker.

And we’re getting examples now of “even if it works out, it’s still bad”…

 

[The Talent Scout]

Can someone who's got more draft expertise please explain why the media and footy supporters are roasting North about trading our first round pick?

Is it not possible that we expected to finish we were at, but we knew this was going to be a highly compromised draft (also lacking depth) and finishing bottom 2 or 3 wasn't going to help us get access to the best talent anyway?

I think we have enough talent on the list, I reckon our focus should be bringing in quality individuals that improve our culture and performance standards/consistency . Either via draft or through recruits like Darling and Parker.

Your sort of on the right track in my opinion, we expected to improve this year but at probably finishing around the 13th/14th position on the ladder. Again, close losses and losing confidence doesn't help but what some fail to see is we are getting games into our boys and playing together as a team, it does take time but you can throw in the fact there isn't anyone in this draft that we are very much into.

The fact that I doubt we would have got two picks for our pick 2 in this draft even if we hadn't traded it says Will made the correct decision but a lot on here for various reasons don't think so , so its just a matter of ones logic and own personal preference on our draft strategy.

 

[big_e]

Nothing stopping us from trading back into the first round if there's someone there we like, too.

 

[Chip Scab1]

dyson sharp, willem duursma, josh lindsay

Josh Lindsay would have been our pick, but MWitlock goes ok. I'm prepared to give him a shot at putting my overzealous heart at ease.

It looks horrible because it is horrible.

The equivalent of throwing in an ace (pick 2) for a pair of 6's (pick 27 and pick 29ish).

Yeah of course we might get lucky and Matlock becomes a good player and the equivalent players in this draft aren't as good but that is long odds.

Even dud Black Jack players win the odd hand throwing in their ace for a pair of 6's.

I'd love to be the dealer playing Black Jack down at Arden St.

I'd prefer to be in a decent sized PLO game with Brady.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Here is my most recent updated rankings. Only a few minor updates:

• Talor Byrne enters the top 40 after some big games.
• Sam Cumming moves up after his SANFL senior form/impact.
• Duursma improves his position from my previous rankings due to his continued high-level form.
• Annable and Uwland move up. Rewatched some of Uwland's highlights from last year and he is arguably the most damaging player in this draft pool.
• Added a few more players who have AFL attributes.

 

[Chip Scab1]

Here is my most recent updated rankings. Only a few minor updates:

• Talor Byrne enters the top 40 after some big games.
• Sam Cumming moves up after his SANFL senior form/impact.
• Duursma improves his position from my previous rankings due to his continued high-level form.
• Annable and Uwland move up. Rewatched some of Uwland's highlights from last year and he is arguably the most damaging player in this draft pool.
• Added a few more players who have AFL attributes.

View attachment 2382687

We don't have any NGAs or father sons this year, do we?

 

[roos_fanatic08]

We don't have any NGAs or father sons this year, do we?

None that are likely to get drafted.

 

[groo]

Here is my most recent updated rankings. Only a few minor updates:

• Talor Byrne enters the top 40 after some big games.
• Sam Cumming moves up after his SANFL senior form/impact.
• Duursma improves his position from my previous rankings due to his continued high-level form.
• Annable and Uwland move up. Rewatched some of Uwland's highlights from last year and he is arguably the most damaging player in this draft pool.
• Added a few more players who have AFL attributes.

View attachment 2382687

Bolded off limits due to academy and F/S?

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Bolded off limits due to academy and F/S?

Yes. If the associated clubs match bids. I'm tipping GC aren't going to get enough points to get all of their academy players this year.

 

[spicerFanClub]

Here is my most recent updated rankings. Only a few minor updates:

• Talor Byrne enters the top 40 after some big games.
• Sam Cumming moves up after his SANFL senior form/impact.
• Duursma improves his position from my previous rankings due to his continued high-level form.
• Annable and Uwland move up. Rewatched some of Uwland's highlights from last year and he is arguably the most damaging player in this draft pool.
• Added a few more players who have AFL attributes.

View attachment 2382687

Awesome list - thanks!

What is getting lost in a lot of this talk about the F1st trade being poor is who we would draft if we actually had Pick 2, which is something the recruiting team would know because they following these players from U16s at least. Here's the likely scenario:

• WCE get Pick 2 as compensation for Allen
• CARL will find a way to get Harry Dean as they are like to get compensation for TDK leaving at pick ~10 (which we should be chasing hard to grab this pick off them)
• GC and BRIS take their academy players who are 3 of the top 5 picks according to Twomey

So...

1. Pick 2 for us has become Pick 6 after the pick order goes 1. WCE, 2. GC, 3. GC, 4. BRIS, 5. WCE (or whoever they might trade with to split the pick)
2. We don't need more midfielders and regardless this years mids do not compare to those we have drafted, so we look to KPPs (which BF is screaming for just like last year and ironically this thread would be full of people lamenting that we didn't trade anything to get a KPP in last years draft given how good they all were)
3. We look at splitting our pick 6, but we shouldn't accept anything less than say pick 17+18 given lack of draft depth and generally the draft index value (which isn't everything but a good guide)
   1. I'm ignoring the issue here that no team has the draft capital to satisfy us in this regard which would be an immediate roadblock
4. At this point:
   1. Duff-Tytler, Harry Dean, and Schubert are likely off the board
   2. Remaining KPPs are Ah-Mu (rank 26), Ludowyke (rank 27), Curtin (29) (also ignoring the fact that all these players are likely available at our natural Pick 20 for this scenario)

At the end of the day we have either:

• Picked Schubert at Pick 6; or
• Picked a combination of Ah-Mu/Ludowyke/Curtin at pick 17/18

The question is then is Whitlock a better player (or projected to be better) than these players/combination of players? From the draft reports the clear answer is yes. Too many on here are way too caught up on the number (fueled by the media who love straw-man arguments to generate clicks). The question should be is Whitlock better than the KPPs we'd have available in this draft and the answer is yes.

We have pick 20 and 21, which will drop out to about pick 30 and 31. There will be players there we can take a punt on and KPPs with traits we like. We also have the option to trade in future firsts etc. if we really want, but by all reports 2027 draft is the one to load up for.

To quash a few other arguments:

• Trading Pick 2 for an established player - No player in their prime is coming to north. No free agents available would be of real use to us to justify trading Pick 2 and given the weakness of this draft most clubs wouldn't entertain it.
• The midfielders we have aren't elite enough so just draft another one - We have drafted best available midfielders in much stronger drafts consistently. Defensive mids and agressive players (which we need) tend to come from second rounds, not top picks - flashy players go up top, hard workers are availbale further down.

And always remember: the draft is a crap shoot. It is always unpredictable how players will develop in AFL systems and how their game translates to AFL football (its for this reason I think clubs might rate Wilhem Duursma lower than these phantom drafts as it's 2 from 2 Duursmas that haven't reach the peaks of their draft years).