Player Watch 2025 AFL Draft Thread (Welcome to our new Central Districts overlords!)

[I got the outside word]

Firstly, no names. Sorry but I wasn't given any openly. The name(s) I was given I was told not to mention this far out of the draft and I'm going to honor that. I may not like him but I'm not going to endanger his job so stop reading now if you want.

Well I'm trying. In the latest edition of 'what the feck do I know?' which should be 'what the feck does my ex really know?', here's the latest and it's not much. At all.

We're known by other clubs to be "open" to live trading going into next year but the opinion is our first wont be on the table (depending on a very good offer) so we are more interested in trading 22 and a future 1st to take another pick inside the mid-first round if a specific player we are looking at is available.
We are looking at someone specifically.

We are interested in two players very much with our first but also really rate another that we think wont be available at our second. The over-riding opinion is that if we traded into before our first we'd probably target this boy initially.
Personally, this makes me go into 'Weddle-mode' but who knows really how they'll turn out. If we get them.

Sorry in advance, that's all I'm allowed to give and that's all I'm giving so feel free to bag me if you want but it is what it is.
Stay happy. Only twelve more days. We can do this, right?

I’m going to start typing out names if you can just give me one wink for no, two winks for yes, that would be really cool…

 

[Da Game]

Grlj and Hibbins-Hargrave at our current picks would be ideal..

 

[Dewnior]

Geez offseason is long and boring. here is the mock draft from chatgpt:

1. GC (match) – Zeke Uwland, dashing Suns academy defender/mid. (Locked to Suns.)
2. Brisbane (match) – Dan Annable, powerful Lions academy mid; they said all year they had the points.
3. West Coast – Willem Duursma (best pure talent; WC love high-end, all-ground mids; keeps WA fans happy enough).
4. West Coast – Cooper Duff-Tytler (200cm ruck/forward; makes sense after they traded out Oscar Allen and need a long ruck/forward succession plan).
5. Richmond – Dyson Sharp (explosive mid/runner — Tigers need game-speed in the next wave).
6. Richmond – Xavier Taylor (rangy intercept/defender — classic “we’ll develop him” Tigers pick).
7. GC (match) – Dylan Patterson (Suns academy, top-10 athlete, no way they let him walk).
8. Essendon – Sullivan Robey (big, competitive mid/fwd — exactly the sort of inside/outside mix the Bombers didn’t get in the trade period).
9. Essendon – Sam Grlj (speed/creativity to complement Merrett & co; Rosa said they could still move up, but if they stay, this makes sense).
10. Melbourne – Sam Cumming (versatile mid/forward; Dees like footballers who can play multiple lines, and they can afford to take pure talent here).
11. Melbourne – Aidan Schubert (198cm forward/ruck — Melbourne brought in Mihocek but still like stocking tall upside).
12. Carlton – Josh Lindsay (half-back/mid polish; Blues just brought in Ainsworth, Florent, Chesser, Reidy so they can go for skill here).
13. Carlton (match) – Harry Dean (father-son key defender, already flagged by the club).
14. Hawthorn – Jacob Farrow (first WA player likely to go; Hawks love smart, kicking defenders and just lost Worpel so they keep adding quality ball-use).
15. Carlton – Lachy Dovaston (impact forward; Blues lost some forward depth in the monster Curnow deal to Sydney, so they top it back up).
16. Melbourne (match) – Kalani White (the Dees have been linked to him specifically).
17. GWS – Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves (Giants love upside/score-involvement types; this is very Adrian Caruso).
18. West Coast – Oskar Taylor (elite-testing small defender; WC need to replace Starcevich-type defensive quality they lost to Brisbane).
19. Western Bulldogs – Ollie Greeves (191cm mid, Dogs always happy to draft another tall mid and sort the role later).
20. Sydney (match) – Max King (Swans academy; they always match on their own talls).
21. Gold Coast – Mitch Marsh (SA third tall forward; Suns can now pick for list balance after locking their three big academy boys).
22. Adelaide – Harley Barker (SA wing with burst, even off the ACL — Crows like local talent and still need more outside run).
23. Brisbane – Louis Emmett (199cm swing/ruck; Lions lost Brandon Starcevich and added key talls Allen + Draper, so they can now take a developmental tall with athletic profile).
24. Gold Coast – Fred Rodriguez (WA MVP type mid; Suns can just take class here).
25. Gold Coast (match) – Beau Addinsall (Suns academy mid, rated inside top 30; this pick becomes a match).
26. Geelong – Blake Thredgold (194cm defender with speed; Geelong tried and failed to trade for a key defender in the period so they just draft one).
27. Essendon (match) – Adam Sweid (Bombers NGA inside mid, ranked 20; Freo asked the question, Dons shut it down).
28. Fremantle – Archie Ludowyke (197cm high-leaping forward; Freo grabbed Judd McVee in trade period so they can swing to a key forward project now).
29. Essendon – Jevan Phillipou (hard, combative mid/forward; very “we’ll add another competitive body” pick).
30. Essendon (match) – Hussien El Achkar (crafty NGA small forward; they don’t let him get to anyone else).
31. Hawthorn – Rory Wright (lovely-kicking mid/half-back, went up late in the year — exactly the Hawks profile).
32. Brisbane – Matt LeRay (clean, smart, can be a half-back/wing — Lions can afford a slightly slower-developing player here).
33. St Kilda (match) – Kye Fincher (Saints NGA half-back/mid; GC made them pay).
34. Gold Coast – Cameron Nairn (SA 189cm forward who works up the ground — good depth piece for them).
35. North Melbourne – Blake Oudshoorn-Bennier (beautiful ball user; Roos just take quality).
36. North Melbourne – Jack Dalton (endurance king; perfect “we need runners” pick for a rebuilding list).
37. Collingwood (match) – Zac McCarthy (Pies NGA tall fwd/ruck; they were always going to match).
38. Essendon – Sam Swadling (WA ball-magnet; Bombers can take a volume-ball type this late).
39. Gold Coast – Rory Wright is gone, Thredgold is gone, so GC can go to next best versatile defender: Sam Swadling is taken, so they pivot to Matt LeRay … but Lions took him at 32, so GC grab Fred Rodriguez-type is gone; at this point they start dipping into their club board — call it “best remaining athlete” from the ESPN 30s (e.g. Central Districts mid/def Matt LeRay if still there, otherwise the next SA mid like Cameron Nairn/another WA mid).
40. Gold Coast – same story: depth athlete from the 30s group (Rodriguez/LeRay/Swadling tier).
41. Essendon – now deep enough to take a pure role player — think Central Districts’ Cameron Nairn if not taken, or a developing key back from outside the ESPN 40.
42. Sydney – tidy up with a running half-back / depth mid.
43. Sydney – second depth piece.
44. Western Bulldogs – depth defender or ruck project.
45. West Coast – WA talent again to keep the locals happy.
46. GWS – high-upside athlete still on the board.
47. Gold Coast – points turned into depth.
48. Melbourne – list hygiene pick.
49. Richmond – father-son Louis Kellaway type was mentioned in club wrap, so Tigers can use this for that line.
50. Collingwood – depth tall or pressure forward, depending on VFL view.
51. Geelong – late project mid/def.

So Chatgpt has the Hawks drafting two half back flankers.

This actually checks out

And has the Blues taking 3 players inside top 15

 

[sohsam]

Grlj and Hibbins-Hargrave at our current picks would be ideal..

the club needs to first identify what type of player they need to be a premiership threat, if that is why they offered 3 first picks for a 30 year old, having lost worpel, whether they can replace through other means than just draft, not sure, but Grlj looks more like an outside midfielder like i smith, I think Sharp is more AFL ready and is best inside midfielder, also his disposal by foot is best apart from Lindsay. I am not sure whether WCE will pick sharp at pick 2 and Grlj is supposed to be top 5.

 

[MazHawk]

Grlj is a funny one. Some drafts have him well gone before our pick, others have him available and sliding if we don't pick him. Time will tell.

 

[MasterSamurai]

Re - Grjl
Talent wise has been top six most year.
Some draft watchers feel that there's a bit of Butters about the way he takes the ball at stopgges and exits . Some others worried that he may be a good solid contributor across half back for 150+ games!! I'm more the first option as I've seen him play a bit. I'd take him if available but can't see him slipping to us.

 

[Davo-27]

Read reports Davo that his pace isn't that best, and when we have a one paced midfield already he would be just adding to that, is that true?

He's not quick like a winger, but not slow, 2.91s 20m sprint is fast enough, he was a star off hbf at the u16s and is a star inside mid, he's a quality player, if you believe the nonsense that gets spewed every year by goofy journos ,then idk what to say because you convinced yourself of the lies floating around.

 

[Davo-27]

cam nairn available with our original pick in 30s, most likely. M Marsh for future, Josh Lindsay not really a midfield option, more good field kick, not a comparison with sharp.

Outside of Sharp, there is no quality mid, there are a couple high quality outside types like Duursma and Grlj but that's it the rest are academy players or outside chances

Robey, Greeves and Kneipp are other mids who could be worth a shot, but at our pick all the top tier players will be gone(Sharp, Duursma, Grlj, Robey) Greeves is more a medium forw/midfielder hybrid, Kneipp is a good mid and played as a tagger last season, injured for his draft year so could go late if we are interested in him and did our home work into him?

Other than that there's some run and gun types with little else going on, o.taylor, h.holmes, j.phillipou, they are all 3 basically the same player but none of them are convincing to me...

Imo get Sharp or we lost the draft and trading period lol

 

[Atch]

Outside of Sharp, there is no quality mid, there are a couple high quality outside types like Duursma and Grlj but that's it the rest are academy players or outside chances

Robey, Greeves and Kneipp are other mids who could be worth a shot, but at our pick all the top tier players will be gone, so we're lucky if Grlj is there and Greeves is more a medium forw/midfielder hybrid, Kneipp is a good mid and played as a tagger last season, injured for his draft year so could go late if we are interested in him and did our home work into him?

May aswell go latrelle.

 

[killerspud]

It’s only in Australia where this is an issue, for some reason elite athletes who want to achieve the pinnacle must be overly humble and trot out cliches that are totally disingenuous. I love a lot about Australia but this shit isn’t for me (and I’m a long way from an elite athlete). I loved Matheus in his draft and wished we picked him over mackenzie and would be rapt with Jevan at 22. Sadly a club will delight in his desire to be great and pick him earlier.

There is a truth here

In Buddy's draft year legend has it that clubs thought he was arrogant when asked who he most played like he answered Lance Franklin. 20 years on he was right, i cant think of any other player he was like. We dont like supremely comfident individuals

 

[TylerDurden]

Can see why Sam wants Grlj.
He's a ballistic player who breaks lines and clean by foot. He's constantly taking ground.
Would be a steal at 10.

 

[arupist]

There is a truth here

In Buddy's draft year legend has it that clubs thought he was arrogant when asked who he most played like he answered Lance Franklin. 20 years on he was right, i cant think of any other player he was like. We dont like supremely comfident individuals

Yet we drafted Lance Franklin.

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

There is a truth here

In Buddy's draft year legend has it that clubs thought he was arrogant when asked who he most played like he answered Lance Franklin. 20 years on he was right, i cant think of any other player he was like. We dont like supremely comfident individuals

We are a nation founded on pushing against putting folks on a pedestal, that's ok. Id say its a strong part of iur culture. I'd hate for us to be more like the states where winning is put higher than respecting your opponent or the game, where everyone loves winners because they believe they are one lucky break away from joining them. It's toxic.

Then you look at Britain, the other end of the scale.

I think we have a healthy medium here.

But in modern sport, its different. natural confidence is something you can't teach and it's so valuable.

I love hearing kids like this talk themselves up.

 

[sohsam]

Outside of Sharp, there is no quality mid, there are a couple high quality outside types like Duursma and Grlj but that's it the rest are academy players or outside chances

Robey, Greeves and Kneipp are other mids who could be worth a shot, but at our pick all the top tier players will be gone(Sharp, Duursma, Grlj, Robey) Greeves is more a medium forw/midfielder hybrid, Kneipp is a good mid and played as a tagger last season, injured for his draft year so could go late if we are interested in him and did our home work into him?

Other than that there's some run and gun types with little else going on, o.taylor, h.holmes, j.phillipou, they are all 3 basically the same player but none of them are convincing to me...

Imo get Sharp or we lost the draft and trading period lol

which of players reminds you of a young merrett? how much of a loss will Worpel be? as I thought he was doing fair bit of inside mid work, can we replace via ready made state league player? you sound all doom and gloom, there was no guarantee we would be competing for premiership with merrett, price for it was too steep for a 30 year old. Apparently regardless we are up against it with gold coast and brisbane midfield. I can understand we have a number of areas like Amon replacement in Lindsay, add Doveston as another small forward, help in midfield rotation, Farrow could be a beast midfielder, M Marsh or even Nairn Gunston replacement, few there for now and few for future. I understand the attraction of Sharp as someone we need now and more AFL ready than others but draft is also replacing those retiring in few years. Maginness can do tagger job, no sure what you are picking is upgrade. There is consensus that we are in with good chance of picking up two good players with our first two picks, hope that is the case. Please are excited about NHH. It is only after few years that we can see who choose wisely.

 

[bigmaxi]

Outside of Sharp, there is no quality mid, there are a couple high quality outside types like Duursma and Grlj but that's it the rest are academy players or outside chances

Robey, Greeves and Kneipp are other mids who could be worth a shot, but at our pick all the top tier players will be gone(Sharp, Duursma, Grlj, Robey) Greeves is more a medium forw/midfielder hybrid, Kneipp is a good mid and played as a tagger last season, injured for his draft year so could go late if we are interested in him and did our home work into him?

Other than that there's some run and gun types with little else going on, o.taylor, h.holmes, j.phillipou, they are all 3 basically the same player but none of them are convincing to me...

Imo get Sharp or we lost the draft and trading period lol

Unlike you to be a Debbie downer Davo, I’m hoping you are terribly wrong and we get a couple of good kids this year and with our next two firsts and HH wins the Brownlow, or a Normie in a wining grand final, at minimum AA. Glass half full and all that. Just so I can stick to my Lessingdon mates.

 

[Davo-27]

which of players reminds you of a young merrett? how much of a loss will Worpel be? as I thought he was doing fair bit of inside mid work, can we replace via ready made state league player? you sound all doom and gloom, there was no guarantee we would be competing for premiership with merrett, price for it was too steep for a 30 year old. Apparently regardless we are up against it with gold coast and brisbane midfield. I can understand we have a number of areas like Amon replacement in Lindsay, add Doveston as another small forward, help in midfield rotation, Farrow could be a beast midfielder, M Marsh or even Nairn Gunston replacement, few there for now and few for future. I understand the attraction of Sharp as someone we need now and more AFL ready than others but draft is also replacing those retiring in few years. Maginness can do tagger job, no sure what you are picking is upgrade. There is consensus that we are in with good chance of picking up two good players with our first two picks, hope that is the case. Please are excited about NHH. It is only after few years that we can see who choose wisely.

None of them are Merrett

I'm not doom and gloom, im just not selling you a fantasy

Worpel is a loss, Sharp would be an upgrade

I dont follow the state leagues

Lindsay is a fantastic user of the footy, we only have Amon and Mass at that level with Sicily losing his leg, we could do with more

Dovaston is good, Pickett, Kickett and a few others are also exciting small forws

I don't like Farrow off hbf tbh, I think he is over hyped

Marsh and Nairn are good med forws

NHH is skilful, some of the goals he kicked were fantastic, maybe with our pick 22 he is an option?

I was talking more about midfielders, there are plenty of forwards and defenders but we are in the market for a Worpel replacement, which was the point of the post.

The last thing I said was in jest

Saying im negative is interesting, because im an optimist who is highly logical, so i find it fascinating when im coldly logical, I guess that comes across as negative to feeler types? Well I find it interesting anyway.

I like MBTI stuff, I heard some call it pseudo science, but I think Carl Jung is a genius, also the spy agencies use MBTI to read/manipulate people, if it had no use then why are the CIA ect using it on marks? see the logical connection? anyway I waffle on...

 

[TheFourPillars]

The draft is generally used for the future. Just remember that

 

[DrAbs]

I reckon we take best available at Pick 10, then narrow down on speed/high half forward/key forward at 22, and finish up with a midfielder with the last pick.

Our first pick is in that in between zone where there may be a player from the top rung that slides, in which case we take for sure. But I also wouldn't be surprised if they're all snapped up before 10, which is most likely at this point. Any one of Robey, Grlj, CDT, Cumming, or Sharp I would take instantly. Not taking Taylor or Lindsay. My pick would be Farrow.

Second pick (22) would be one of Marsh, NHH, Ludowyke, Pickett, or Nairn. They'll probably be the only ones I'd be having a look at around that mark. I would go Pickett.

Round it out with Pick 62 (or whatever it comes out to be). This will be interesting as it always is at the end of the draft - will likely be a handful of players on draft boards that haven't been drafted yet. The likes of Rodriguez, Allen, Dalton might be still on the board. I really hope one player is left untouched here - and he's a Hawks fan, with a skillset I think we can develop into something special. I'm taking Riley Onley with our last pick.

Draft class of Farrow, Pickett, and Onley would be well balanced, certainly add to areas of need, and I think all of them can have an impact sooner rather than later. Round out the squad in the rookie draft with a Will Setterfield

12

Will Setterfield

Age

27

Ht

192cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.3

4star

K

9.5

4star

HB

5.8

4star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.6

5star

CL

1.8

4star

D

14.0

3star

K

8.9

4star

HB

5.1

3star

M

1.9

2star

T

4.4

5star

CL

2.9

4star

D

13.4

4star

K

8.0

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.8

5star

CL

1.4

4star

& Jacob Marron (KPD).

 

[Judd2Sewell]

"Draft best available." There are fine margins between a large group of the top draftees.

Say two standout talents are available to us at pick 13 - one of which is rated 8.2 on my imaginary talent scale, but plays in a position we are stocked in, whilst the second is rated 8.1, but plays in an area of the field we need to address. Which player are we taking?

 

[Blackhawk42]

"Draft best available." There are fine margins between a large group of the top draftees.

Say two standout talents are available to us at pick 13 - one of which is rated 8.2 on my imaginary talent scale, but plays in a position we are stocked in, whilst the second is rated 8.1, but plays in an area of the field we need to address. Which player are we taking?

I still feel like we used this approach in 2021. We basically had our choice of Ward, Gibcus and Amiss.

We'd just drafted DGB, so Gibcus didnt feel right.
Amiss was a good shout, however, our midfield was DIRE at that point. We didnt know what Newcombe was about to develop in to at that time, and aside maybe from Finn, we didn't have any other young mids to put our hope into.

We HAD to draft Ward.

 

[Hawker55]

There is a truth here

In Buddy's draft year legend has it that clubs thought he was arrogant when asked who he most played like he answered Lance Franklin. 20 years on he was right, i cant think of any other player he was like. We dont like supremely comfident individuals

For every Buddy there's 10 Mitch Thorps.

Even in the US where athletes play for the individual a lot more than team, there's still a focus on recruiting good team players (ignoring the show and carry on when they win etc).

 

[The Chad and I]

Grlj and Hibbins-Hargrave at our current picks would be ideal..

I like this.
X-factor and versatility we need.

 

[Simon_Nesbit]

For every Buddy there's 10 Mitch Thorps.

Even in the US where athletes play for the individual a lot more than team, there's still a focus on recruiting good team players (ignoring the show and carry on when they win etc).

You only need to read the draft profiles of NBA 2nd round selections. 99% of the reports lead with what great team-players they are.

They are still incredible athletes - the 1% of the 1%, and most have had good-great college careers to justify their selections - but what sets the draftees apart from those that go undrafted is generally work ethic, teamwork, off-field preparation, tactical play, etc. The absolute elite will get drafted regardless - and paid incredibly well - but the rosters are then generally filled out with strong support players. NBA is based around the superstar and support model.

That doesn't work as well when there are 18 players on the field. AFL spends WAY too much on the "good" players - maybe a key forward, dominant ruck, or a genuine star on-baller could justify the superstar treatment/wage - otherwise it takes a system and depth in players to win.

 

[Atch]

 

[JD1992]

The thread keeps talking about a Worpel replacement. Most midfielders will not be able to play that role in first or second year - so its more likely a like for like is 3 years away.
Would Maginess be able to play Worpels role? He is also bigger faster and Versatile. He doesnt nessary have the same footy IQ. It could be that Mckenzie and Maginess come in and create a different midfield way to work, that could be better?? We are i the unknown on how Mitch will want to setup the midfield and rotations.