List Mgmt. 2025 Young Talent Time

[Tbonefreo]

Not to mention if our salary cap gets real tight in the next few years we might be able to do him and the family a “deal” for some more prime land in lake grace

That town has so many afl players its ridiculous

 

[Vimal Anand]

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/code-sports-afl-draft-dossier-power-rankings-profiles-and-stats-on-top-100-prospects-for-2025/news-story/f830a7e0dfd7f94ed44a0d9e401e65b5

If you want the details on anyone else let me know.


Farrow 12

A classy halfback, Farrow has been linked to AFL stars Hayden Young and Jordan Dawson. Like those two players, he is a beautiful kick who went at 86.8 per cent kicking efficiency during his under-18 national championships campaign with Western Australia. Farrow is also a strong-bodied player who can take a nice intercept mark, makes good decisions, is composed under pressure and can provide some run and rebound when he does win possession. He was trialed through the midfield in Western Australia’s first two games, before returning to his natural position in defence and racking up 29 disposals and 803 metres gained in the side’s third game against the Allies. Farrow was named in a back pocket in the under-18 All-Australian team, before returning to West Perth where he has impressed at senior level in the WAFL. In a round 16 loss to East Perth, Farrow racked up 22 disposals, nine marks and six rebound 50s. He also had some big games in the Colts across the year and spent time as an inside midfielder late in the season.

2025 WAFL Colts 132 ranking points, 24.7 disposals, 5.4 marks, 4.2 intercept possessions, 3.2 rebound 50s, 4.4 tackles, 0.6 spoils (9 games) 2025 WAFL 93 ranking points, 17.7 disposals, 5.3 marks, 6 intercept possessions, 3.7 rebound 50s, 3.7 tackles, 0.7 spoils (3 games) 2025 National Champs 108 ranking points, 19 disposals, 4.8 marks, 1.8 intercept marks, 4.5 rebound 50s, 3 score involvements, 3.5 tackles (4 games)


Sam Cumming - 16
tough and fierce competitor who has been likened to former Adelaide champion Rory Sloane, Cumming also brings power, speed and plenty of class. A vice-captain of South Australia at this year’s under-18 national championships, Cumming spent time rotating between onball and forward roles and performed well in both with his enormous workrate and appetite for the contest. He kicked goals in three of his side’s four matches, including two majors in one quarter against Vic Metro. The performances saw him named across half-forward in the under-18 All-Australian side. Cumming had won the SANFL under-18s MVP award as a bottom-age player with North Adelaide last year and was also dominant in the early rounds this season. He went on to feature at senior level in the SANFL in the second half of the year and starred with 21 disposals, five clearances and three goals in a round 13 clash against South Adelaide. His season ended early, though, due to a shoulder injury. Cumming is originally from Wentworth in New South Wales but moved to Adelaide for school.

2025 SANFL 67 ranking points, 12.8 disposals, 5 contested possessions, 2.8 marks, 3 clearances, 2.8 inside-50s, 3 tackles, 2.5 score involvements, 0.8 goals, 0.3 score assists (4 games) 2025 SANFL U18s 144 ranking points, 24.2 disposals, 13.2 contested possessions, 3.4 marks, 3.4 clearances, 5.6 inside-50s, 1.6 tackles, 6.8 score involvements, 1.6 goals, 1.6 score assists (5 games) 2025 National Champs 89 ranking points, 17 disposals, 1.3 clearances, 3.3 inside-50s, 4.5 score involvements, 1.0 goals, 0.8 score assists, 3.3 tackles (4 games)

Lachy Dovaston

A creative small forward, there’s definitely a little bit of Nick Watson about Dovaston. He hit the scoreboard on a consistent basis across different programs this year, including in the Coates Talent League and with Vic Metro. Dovaston had a standout game for the Eastern Ranges in round 11, booting five goals from 20 disposals. He went on to lead Vic Metro’s goalkicking at the under-18 national championships with nine majors from four games, highlighted by an 18-disposal and four-goal performance against the Allies. Applying good forward pressure is the key to his game, while he also works hard up the ground to get involved, has great agility and forward craft, can hit the scoreboard in different ways and sets up teammates in better positions inside the forward arc. Dovaston played a key role in the Ranges’ premiership this year and kicked two goals from 24 disposals as one of his side’s best players in the Grand Final win over the Sandringham Dragons in September. The performance saw him finish the season with 38 goals from 16 games in the Coates Talent League – the second-most of any player in the competition. Dovaston was named in a forward pocket in the under-18 All-Australian team and earned a spot in the Coates Talent League Team of the Year. He also made a VFL debut for Box Hill in round 20, gathering 18 disposals and kicking 1.3.
2025 Coates League 114 ranking points, 16.1 disposals, 2.3 marks, 5 tackles, 6.9 score involvements, 2.4 goals, 1.1 score assists (16 games) 2025 VFL 78 ranking points, 18 disposals, 5 marks, 3 tackles, 7 score involvements, 1 goal, 3 behinds, 3 score assists (1 game) 2025 National Champs 94 ranking points, 12.8 disposals, 2 marks, 3.5 tackles, 5.5 score involvements, 2.3 goals (4 games)


Jevan Phillipou

The younger brother of Mattaes Phillipou, Jevan shares similar traits to the St Kilda young gun. A former state level decathlete – winning bronze at U17 South Australian Athletics Champs – Phillipou has an elite athletic and aerobic profile, is ultra-dedicated and is a very damaging forward half player. The Woodville-West Torrens product is a great kick on both sides of his body, a marking threat up forward with his leap and has fantastic agility which allows him to evade tacklers with ease. Phillipou broke his arm a week before the national championships, which sidelined him for the Croweaters’ successful carnival, but he starred at SANFL U18 level, tallying 31 disposals, 13 contested possessions, eight score involvements, six clearances, six tackles and two goals against Norwood in round 13. His strong form saw him promoted to the Eagles’ league side, where he produced a promising debut as he sold candy on the mark and burst away for his first disposal before kicking a goal with his second touch.

2025 SANFL U18s 127 ranking points, 22.7 disposals, 4.4 marks, 3.7 tackles, 6.4 score involvements, 1.0 goals, 1.2 score assists (9 games) 2025 SANFL 35 ranking points, 9.7 disposals, 2.3 marks, 1.2 tackles, 3 score involvements, 0.3 goals, 0.2 score assists (6 games) 2025 Nati



Sam Swadling - 29
A versatile talent, Swadling has starred while playing both onball and across half-forward this year. A dominant force playing through the midfield in the WAFL Colts earlier in the season, he was used mostly in a new role as a half-forward during the under-18 national championships as he continued his development. He worked hard up and down the ground, serving as a link-up player and proving to be one of his state’s most consistent performers across the four games. Swadling is a good size, is a one-touch player with his hands — including with his groundball game — and sets up teammates going forward when he is not hitting the scoreboard himself. Named on the bench in the under-18 All-Australian side, Swadling went on to feature at senior level for West Perth in the WAFL in the second half of the season and racked up 24 disposals, six marks and two clearances in a round 16 loss to East Perth. He also collected 47 disposals and eight clearances for 230 SuperCoach ranking points in a best-on-ground performance against East Fremantle in the WAFL Colts in round 20.

2025 WAFL Colts 169 ranking points, 35.4 disposals, 15.1 contested possessions, 4 marks, 10.4 groundball gets, 6.6 clearances, 3.3 inside-50s, 3.9 tackles, 6.1 score involvements, 1.2 score assists (9 games) 2025 WAFL 76 ranking points, 17.5 disposals, 5.5 contested possessions, 3.3 marks, 4.8 groundball gets, 1.5 clearances, 1.8 inside-50s, 3 tackles, 3.3 score involvements, 0.5 score assists (4 games) 2025 National Champs 98 ranking points, 19 disposals, 3.8 marks, 2.8 clearances, 6.8 groundball gets, 6 score involvements, 0.8 goals, 1.0 score assists, 2.5 tackles (4 games)


Cody Curtin - 32
Fred Rodreiguez - 39
Latrelle Picket - 40

Toby Whan - after 50

Oskar taylor?

 

[noobermensch]

The uncontested and free flowing nature of the Futures game wasn't really the ideal place for Dockers NGA Lucas Robinson to show his best stuff. Robinson is a big, tough, contested inside mid who shares some similarities with Dyson Sharp: elite in the clinches, diligent with his defensive work, loves a tackle, and surprisingly strong overhead able to impact in contested marking situations around the ground. Lucas found plenty of the footy here but was mostly doing the grunt work to release his outside runners with hands in close, racking up 7 clearances for the game.

 

[mayne iac]

Legend thanks

 

[_007_]

16 handballs and 3 kicks.

Looks like the reports of him being pretty slow are spot on too.

Not much to get excited about in that clip.

 

[Alfonz]

16 handballs and 3 kicks.

Looks like the reports of him being pretty slow are spot on too.

Not much to get excited about in that clip.

How can you judge his speed from those highlights? Most are in tight in no space, and on the odd occasions he could take a few steps through the centre bounce stoppage, he seemed to move pretty well.

Seems like people are starting to talk him down, but for all we know he could be the next Tom Green. Looks a bit like him visually.

 

[Paracleet]

If he has decent tank as well he'll have all the tools.

 

[mayne iac]

I thought he looked very sharp

 

[PowerToThePurpl]

How can you judge his speed from those highlights? Most are in tight in no space, and on the odd occasions he could take a few steps through the centre bounce stoppage, he seemed to move pretty well.

Seems like people are starting to talk him down, but for all we know he could be the next Tom Green. Looks a bit like him visually.

Was also gonna say he reminds me of Tom Green, both in playing style and looks.

He didn’t get much of a chance to show his aerial ability which he’s displayed at colts and league level - got great hands in tight though.

 

[Paracleet]

People are a bit obsessed with fast or explosive inside mids at the top of the draft and have been for a while. It feels reactive. Being a slow midfielder is not a problem unless all your other mids are slow too imo.
Can't help thinking recruiters need to review the weighting criteria when players like Reid slip all the way to 17 not because of unexposed form or skill but effectively a form of scaling. I mean Fyfe at pick 20; fine. He was a skinny half forward. But everyone knew Reid was good but marked him down for being small and lacking burst despite It not being an issue for him.
All other things being equal the most talented midfield will win not the most explosive.

 

[Lach72]

How can you judge his speed from those highlights? Most are in tight in no space, and on the odd occasions he could take a few steps through the centre bounce stoppage, he seemed to move pretty well.

Seems like people are starting to talk him down, but for all we know he could be the next Tom Green. Looks a bit like him visually.

I watched the whole game.

He’s slow.

 

[what a game]

I’ll be happy to take a bloke who is happy to use first thought with a handball to someone in the open rather than a hack dump kick out of the middle or kicking in hope around corners any day. A lot of the centre bounces he has attacked the ball going defensively then used hands to hit a bloke running forward.
Great first thought football. Plenty to work with in my opinion

 

[Chris25]

If Whan and Fredriguez are expected to go go 30/40+ I'm not quite sure the draft is looking too bad.

Is it a lack of top end prospects?

Is it very few KPPS? Electric small forwards?

I'm also looking at the mock draft names around puck 15, and feeling confident we will find a player

Lack of top end, complete prospects is an issue. And a lack of KPPs compounds that, makes the draft look weaker. Plus for me, the best and safest picks are all tied to clubs already - Patterson, Uwland and Annable really are the best players in the draft. And although I don't have him quite as high, Dean is the most complete KPP and is Carlton bound.

Duursma and Duff-Tytler could develop further into that top player, but they have some question marks. I think if I was West Coast, I'd take the shot on CDT and his upside but see if Richmond or Essendon wanted to trade up for Duursma - drop a couple of spots, pick up a safer midfield prospect. But outside of those two in the open draft, it's anyone's guess. And I think Robey and Taylor shooting up late is evidence of the fact that nobody has really cemented a claim to being a top 10 pick in any other year.

I think we'll see clubs drafting for positional need more in the 10-30 range, but also on specific AFL level attributes in more incomplete prospects. Which in part probably explains why Whan is lower than this board may have expected, I don't think he necessarily has that one part to his game that will make a club really stand up. Similar for Rodriguez, but I suspect probably goes second round once clubs start looking for proper mids.

For us in the first round, there's a handful of guys I like but I'm not as confident as last year of being able to stay put and be happy with whichever of the top group falls to us.

 

[Tonga Bob]

NGA changes announced:

• removed the criteria that allowed a player to be tied to a club if they were born overseas in the relevant zones, with all NGA applications from now on to rely on parents' cultural backgrounds
• the addition of the Pacific and Central and South American regions to the cultural eligibility criteria and the removal of European countries;
• an expansion of age eligibility from 19 to 21 years to allow clubs to have more time to access players if they are late developers;
• a requirement that the player and their family must have resided in the NGA zone for at least 12 months before their application is submitted
• minimum requirements for clubs that clubs must meet to obtain draft concessions and NGA funding, including minimum number of players engaged, minimum hours of development of players and minimum reporting requirements;
• clubs having to submit applications in a player's 15th year, brought forward from their 16th year;
• allowing other clubs to pre-list NGA players who are not selected by their aligned clubs;
• dedicating a Category B rookie list spot for NGA eligible players, which is triggered once a club fills its first Category B rookie position;
• the AFL offering part-funding of Category B rookie contracts for Indian and Chinese players, with the funding on this incentive to be decided by the AFL;
• the formal introduction of the AFLW NGA draft concessions for the 2026 draft.

AFL cracks down on player eligibility in NGA revamp

Clubs must spend more time with Next Generation Academy prospects and register their interest earlier in order to get priority draft access

www.afl.com.au

I think Lucas Robinson still qualifies as his parents were borm in Zimbabwe

 

[rgauci]

I watched the whole game.

He’s slow.

Me too, I concur.

 

[eastfreo75]

Me too, I concur.

Patrick Cripps slow?

 

[Freezin]

Patrick Cripps slow?

He is now mate....but still a champ..

 

[eastfreo75]

He is now mate....but still a champ..

Cripps did fall because of it.

 

[Purple Suit]

NGA changes announced:

• removed the criteria that allowed a player to be tied to a club if they were born overseas in the relevant zones, with all NGA applications from now on to rely on parents' cultural backgrounds
• the addition of the Pacific and Central and South American regions to the cultural eligibility criteria and the removal of European countries;
• an expansion of age eligibility from 19 to 21 years to allow clubs to have more time to access players if they are late developers;
• a requirement that the player and their family must have resided in the NGA zone for at least 12 months before their application is submitted
• minimum requirements for clubs that clubs must meet to obtain draft concessions and NGA funding, including minimum number of players engaged, minimum hours of development of players and minimum reporting requirements;
• clubs having to submit applications in a player's 15th year, brought forward from their 16th year;
• allowing other clubs to pre-list NGA players who are not selected by their aligned clubs;
• dedicating a Category B rookie list spot for NGA eligible players, which is triggered once a club fills its first Category B rookie position;
• the AFL offering part-funding of Category B rookie contracts for Indian and Chinese players, with the funding on this incentive to be decided by the AFL;
• the formal introduction of the AFLW NGA draft concessions for the 2026 draft.

AFL cracks down on player eligibility in NGA revamp

Clubs must spend more time with Next Generation Academy prospects and register their interest earlier in order to get priority draft access

www.afl.com.au

I think Lucas Robinson still qualifies as his parents were borm in Zimbabwe

Removing the European countries is a blow for us. A lot of poms or half poms over here.

The Northern academies get access to every single kid and get to develop them in their own system. QLD nearly had the same participation as WA in terms of Auskick. Imagine if we got to make a super Colts team from 4 WAFL zones from 12 years old, manage it, develop it. We'd be stacked.

 

[BettercallSaul]

Removing the European countries is a blow for us. A lot of poms or half poms over here.

The Northern academies get access to every single kid and get to develop them in their own system. QLD nearly had the same participation as WA in terms of Auskick. Imagine if we got to make a super Colts team from 4 WAFL zones from 12 years old, manage it, develop it. We'd be stacked.

Perhaps the NSW and QLD teams can keep their academies but aren’t involved in the draft. Leave the draft for the rest of the teams. Probably unworkable but if I was a dictator it would happen.

 

[rgauci]

Patrick Cripps slow?

Amongst the other quick mids that were on display, he looked very slow and minimal chase effort. Once it left his immediate area he didn’t sprint chase, jogged after his opponent.

I didn’t think he was a top 15 player on the ground. There were some amazing forwards, dynamic mids and fast rebounding back flankers.

I watched it hoping we had a top 5 kid lined up, but completely understand why the club was pushing for the draft to be reset asap, the academies abolished and the first round protected. I’m not sure Robinson is a 1st rounder. Maybe end of 1st round.

 

[eastfreo75]

Amongst the other quick mids that were on display, he looked very slow and minimal chase effort. Once it left his immediate area he didn’t sprint chase, jogged after his opponent.

I didn’t think he was a top 15 player on the ground. There were some amazing forwards, dynamic mids and fast rebounding back flankers.

I watched it hoping we had a top 5 kid lined up, but completely understand why the club was pushing for the draft to be reset asap, the academies abolished and the first round protected. I’m not sure Robinson is a 1st rounder. Maybe end of 1st round.

Injuries maybe?

 

[Taylor]

Lucas Robinson played in the WAFL Colts Grand Final six days prior, might have worn him down a bit compared to the others.

 

[Purple Suit]

Perhaps the NSW and QLD teams can keep their academies but aren’t involved in the draft. Leave the draft for the rest of the teams. Probably unworkable but if I was a dictator it would happen.

It's not required. Kids don't choose rugby over footy because the 0.001% that are good enough might get drafted to another state. They have created a solution for a problem that didn't exist and the money being pumped in has just given better development to a much larger population.

The go home problem was a factor when Brisbane / GC / GWS were terrible but that is true for every club. The locals want to leave too when you are shit. Look at WC.

 

[BettercallSaul]

It's not required. Kids don't choose rugby over footy because the 0.001% that are good enough might get drafted to another state. They have created a solution for a problem that didn't exist and the money being pumped in has just given better development to a much larger population.

The go home problem was a factor when Brisbane / GC / GWS were terrible but that is true for every club. The locals want to leave too when you are shit. Look at WC.

My “idea” was my imaginary response to their claim that the academies are Vital for their advantage ………..er vital for the game’s development .