List Mgmt. 2026 Draftee/NGA/FS Discussion

[AsterixTheGaul]

Probably harsh on my part but he is from Claremont & I'm still a bit bitter Unfortunately most overagers need to have pretty exceptional circumstances to be considered. Still a bit grumpy that half of their best on GF day were overagers.

I should probably check in on the post and the user name. Then I realised you are a Saint Blunders fan and realised gloves are off, I cannot let this bullsheet post go unanswered.

Firstly, I respect South Fremantle in how they develop their youth. My belief is that South along with East Fremantle, Swans and Claremont are the stand out clubs in player development.

Next, your statement on over agers is St Kilda type ridiculous. Claremont had three 19 year olds and Soufs had two 19 year olds playing in the GF. The breakdown in players ages are as follows:

Claremont
Over age = 3
Top age = 11
Bottom age = 9

South Fremantle
Over age = 2
Top age = 13
Bottom age = 8

Sounds like it was a pretty fair line up with Under/Over agers.


Next I would suggest you dig into the 3 Claremont players your are bitching about

Foster - back pocket who had 5 kicks and 2 handpasses.
Hopkyns - KPD who did not play in 2023 (from memory an injury year), 4 games in 2024 and in the GF he had 7 kicks and 10 handpasses and your team kept kicking it to him so he took 8 marks.
Jennings-Hopkins - forward pocket from Dunsborough who was discarded by East Perth in 2022. No games in 2023, Claremont picked him out of the bin in 2024 and he played 1 game and in the GF he had 15 disposals, kicked 2 goals mainly because South's defence were left not knowing what to do apart from double teaming Cody.

Charlie Banfield and Cody Curtin were the absolute standouts for Claremont. If either of these had been overage, I would give your post some credit. After these 2, there were probably a group of 10 Claremont players that delivered on the big stage that could have been in the teams best. Lots of role players who did their role. Reality is that your boys dropped their heads when Toby got injured and were caught out being undersized down back plus lacked any real precision with delivery into the fwd 50.

Claremont had 10 players who had 15 or more disposals. Souths had 4.

Both Jennings-Hopkins and Hopkyns had decent games but hardly the dominant factors in the win. You are probably still salty that our 17 year old Benji van Rooyen took your 19 year old Elliott-Tideman to the cleaners in the ruck contest. Along with Soufs finishing the season on top of the ladder while Claremont did their usual thing of being without their best because of PSA commitments and the non PSA players making sure they get into the finals and wait for the cavalry.

Yehnah, stay on the St Blunders boards where wallowing in self pity and playing the victim has been perfected to a tee.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

I should probably check in on the post and the user name. Then I realised you are a Saint Blunders fan and realised gloves are off, I cannot let this bullsheet post go unanswered.

Firstly, I respect South Fremantle in how they develop their youth. My belief is that South along with East Fremantle, Swans and Claremont are the stand out clubs in player development.

Next, your statement on over agers is St Kilda type ridiculous. Claremont had three 19 year olds and Soufs had two 19 year olds playing in the GF. The breakdown in players ages are as follows:

Claremont
Over age = 3
Top age = 11
Bottom age = 9

South Fremantle
Over age = 2
Top age = 13
Bottom age = 8

Sounds like it was a pretty fair line up with Under/Over agers.


Next I would suggest you dig into the 3 Claremont players your are bitching about

Foster - back pocket who had 5 kicks and 2 handpasses.
Hopkyns - KPD who did not play in 2023 (from memory an injury year), 4 games in 2024 and in the GF he had 7 kicks and 10 handpasses and your team kept kicking it to him so he took 8 marks.
Jennings-Hopkins - forward pocket from Dunsborough who was discarded by East Perth in 2022. No games in 2023, Claremont picked him out of the bin in 2024 and he played 1 game and in the GF he had 15 disposals, kicked 2 goals mainly because South's defence were left not knowing what to do apart from double teaming Cody.

Charlie Banfield and Cody Curtin were the absolute standouts for Claremont. If either of these had been overage, I would give your post some credit. After these 2, there were probably a group of 10 Claremont players that delivered on the big stage that could have been in the teams best. Lots of role players who did their role. Reality is that your boys dropped their heads when Toby got injured and were caught out being undersized down back plus lacked any real precision with delivery into the fwd 50.

Claremont had 10 players who had 15 or more disposals. Souths had 4.

Both Jennings-Hopkins and Hopkyns had decent games but hardly the dominant factors in the win. You are probably still salty that our 17 year old Benji van Rooyen took your 19 year old Elliott-Tideman to the cleaners in the ruck contest. Along with Soufs finishing the season on top of the ladder while Claremont did their usual thing of being without their best because of PSA commitments and the non PSA players making sure they get into the finals and wait for the cavalry.

Yehnah, stay on the St Blunders boards where wallowing in self pity and playing the victim has been perfected to a tee.

 

[SaintLoopy]

I should probably check in on the post and the user name. Then I realised you are a Saint Blunders fan and realised gloves are off, I cannot let this bullsheet post go unanswered.

Firstly, I respect South Fremantle in how they develop their youth. My belief is that South along with East Fremantle, Swans and Claremont are the stand out clubs in player development.

Next, your statement on over agers is St Kilda type ridiculous. Claremont had three 19 year olds and Soufs had two 19 year olds playing in the GF. The breakdown in players ages are as follows:

Claremont
Over age = 3
Top age = 11
Bottom age = 9

South Fremantle
Over age = 2
Top age = 13
Bottom age = 8

Sounds like it was a pretty fair line up with Under/Over agers.


Next I would suggest you dig into the 3 Claremont players your are bitching about

Foster - back pocket who had 5 kicks and 2 handpasses.
Hopkyns - KPD who did not play in 2023 (from memory an injury year), 4 games in 2024 and in the GF he had 7 kicks and 10 handpasses and your team kept kicking it to him so he took 8 marks.
Jennings-Hopkins - forward pocket from Dunsborough who was discarded by East Perth in 2022. No games in 2023, Claremont picked him out of the bin in 2024 and he played 1 game and in the GF he had 15 disposals, kicked 2 goals mainly because South's defence were left not knowing what to do apart from double teaming Cody.

Charlie Banfield and Cody Curtin were the absolute standouts for Claremont. If either of these had been overage, I would give your post some credit. After these 2, there were probably a group of 10 Claremont players that delivered on the big stage that could have been in the teams best. Lots of role players who did their role. Reality is that your boys dropped their heads when Toby got injured and were caught out being undersized down back plus lacked any real precision with delivery into the fwd 50.

Claremont had 10 players who had 15 or more disposals. Souths had 4.

Both Jennings-Hopkins and Hopkyns had decent games but hardly the dominant factors in the win. You are probably still salty that our 17 year old Benji van Rooyen took your 19 year old Elliott-Tideman to the cleaners in the ruck contest. Along with Soufs finishing the season on top of the ladder while Claremont did their usual thing of being without their best because of PSA commitments and the non PSA players making sure they get into the finals and wait for the cavalry.

Yehnah, stay on the St Blunders boards where wallowing in self pity and playing the victim has been perfected to a tee.

Ouch, nasty. My point was correct that in your top 5 named on the day, 2 were overagers. Charlie was great on the day & it’s a shame you guys didn’t do the right thing by him. I think that Cattalini beat Cody for 3 quarters & he only kicked most of his goals in junk time.
Your mids were fantastic on the day but I think you’re being a bit harsh that Toby going down early didn’t hurt our rotations on a very hot day.
In regards to your ruck comment you were correct on Jay although I think our second ruck Foster (WAFL ruck of the year) was probably the best ruck on the ground & embarrassingly 8cm shorter than Benji.
You made a couple of good points, but let yourself down when you got petty on the saints comments & didn’t really disprove that any of my comments were wrong.

 

[AsterixTheGaul]

Ouch, nasty. My point was correct that in your top 5 named on the day, 2 were overagers. Charlie was great on the day & it’s a shame you guys didn’t do the right thing by him. I think that Cattalini beat Cody for 3 quarters & he only kicked most of his goals in junk time.
Your mids were fantastic on the day but I think you’re being a bit harsh that Toby going down early didn’t hurt our rotations on a very hot day.
In regards to your ruck comment you were correct on Jay although I think our second ruck Foster (WAFL ruck of the year) was probably the best ruck on the ground & embarrassingly 8cm shorter than Benji.
You made a couple of good points, but let yourself down when you got petty on the saints comments & didn’t really disprove that any of my comments were wrong.

Junk time? There were 2 goals in it at 3/4 time and Cody tore you guys a new ar$e in the last quarter. Not what I’d call junk time as he started the avalanche. I recall the game at the final break and feeling quietly confident but not home yet and then the ball came out of the centre square so easily and efficiently in the last quarter when Cody monstered your defence. Agree he was well held up to then but primarily because you double teamed him. I did not want Cody as BOG as he really only killed the contest in the last quarter. But let’s agree, it was a fantastic last quarter from him

Agree Foster did well. He now needs to turn that into more HO to advantage. A good prospect there.

On a shared note - nice to see both clubs giving loads of opportunities to bottom ages.

 

[Obeanie1]

Not sure if we've addressed our midfield needs yet with Duursma. I'm not sold on Rodriguez. I guess time will tell. We need to have even more focus on mids in the 2026 draft.

We have added a lot of mids over the past 4 drafts.

So yes, we need time to see what quality we already have.

Adding another quality skilled balanced mid is high on this list but we have a fair few to work with, who knows if they make it or not.

Arki as a mid / forward works.

Maybe we grab a NHH in the mid season draft as well.

 

[eaglevision]

We have added a lot of mids over the past 4 drafts.

So yes, we need time to see what quality we already have.

Adding another quality skilled balanced mid is high on this list but we have a fiar few to work with, who knows if they make it or not.

Arki as a mid / forward works.

Maybe we grab a NHH in the mid season draft as well.

I’d seriously look at putting our 1R and F2 on the table to GCS for a combination of Rogers, Lombard, Davies, Walter or their kids from this year.

More years of development, a better idea of what kind of players they are and they are so far away from regular AFL time at GCS with their stacked midfield they may want an opportunity elsewhere.

 

[Ambrose Burnside]

Fred slipped to the rookie draft in a weak draft, not sure anyone is sold on him just yet (was still my choice for that pick).

 

[Happy Mastenator]

We know we have midfield depth, given we now have so many midfielders, we will end up letting some go that would be passable depth players.

This means that we don't need many in future drafts, what we need is a couple of quality ones to round out our top end, so high picks used on obtaining, then with 2nd/3rd rounders onwards we can draft talls/forwards/defenders, and take the time to develop them.

 

[Campaigner for good]

my son is Jamayson Ketchup and yes I am very proud of him. a little bias but I would say Jamayson is the next best player to Kenh.

would love to see him playing for the eagles but will still follow PA

Be as biased. If having a kid in the cohort isn't a reason to have bias, I don't know what is!!!

 

[Obeanie1]

I’d seriously look at putting our 1R and F2 on the table to GCS for a combination of Rogers, Lombard, Davies, Walter or their kids from this year.

More years of development, a better idea of what kind of players they are and they are so far away from regular AFL time at GCS with their stacked midfield they may want an opportunity elsewhere.

We need the Swans to poo the bed and miss finals and we show marked improvement.

May get us a shot at Warner a year early, pre agency trade.

 

[eaglevision]

We need the Swans to poo the bed and miss finals and we show marked improvement.

May get us a shot at Warner a year early, pre agency trade.

The Swans finishing position is a double edged sword. On one hand we want them down the bottom so there’s no flag on the horizon for Warner, on the other hand if they finish top 4 and the 2 pick bid match comes in, it may make it hard for them to match a bid on Cody Walker given as it stands they’d have to use their 1R and Sydney’s 1R.

 

[Obeanie1]

The Swans finishing position is a double edged sword. On one hand we want them down the bottom so there’s no flag on the horizon for Warner, on the other hand if they finish top 4 and the 2 pick bid match comes in, it may make it hard for them to match a bid on Cody Walker given as it stands they’d have to use their 1R and Sydney’s 1R.

Sydney matching a bid on Walker?

A Blues nominated father son?

Oh. You are talking about Carlton taking advantage of the Swans dropping meaning they get Walker easier.

Fair. But that doesnt help or hinder landing Warner.

Swans just traded out 3 x 1st rounders.

I'd suggest they expect they will be receiving 1st rounders for a player or players traded out in the near future.

 

[Eastcoasteagle]

I’d seriously look at putting our 1R and F2 on the table to GCS for a combination of Rogers, Lombard, Davies, Walter or their kids from this year.

More years of development, a better idea of what kind of players they are and they are so far away from regular AFL time at GCS with their stacked midfield they may want an opportunity elsewhere.

Do you reckon they'll deal with us after our bidding?

 

[eaglevision]

Do you reckon they'll deal with us after our bidding?

Our bidding may have been in response to not dealing! I think if they see an advantage in a deal they wouldn’t cut off their nose to spite their face.

 

[WCE777]

Do you reckon they'll deal with us after our bidding?

I would take that, 1st & 2nd round picks for a combination of 3 players.
Walter, Rogers, Lombard would be really decent players.
Roger’s & Lombard are more forward of centre players who could roll through the midfield and wings.

 

[Eastcoasteagle]

I would take that, 1st & 2nd round picks for a combination of 3 players.
Walter, Rogers, Lombard would be really decent players.
Roger’s & Lombard are more forward of centre players who could roll through the midfield and wings.

100% take that. Walter and Lombard are stars in the making.

Rogers will be a very good half forward too

 

[Obeanie1]

Do you reckon they'll deal with us after our bidding?

Well they just found out what happens when you dont do any deals.

Id suggest if a pick swap deal was done last draft we wouldnt have bid on any of their kids.

You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.

 

[Alesana]

Here's some footage of next year's FS options. Noah Braun doesn't look like he'll make it at this stage (though he's still pretty undersized), Harper Banfield looks the goods however, I'd be annoyed if both he and Charlie make it and we draft neither of them.

 

[EagleEgo]

A comprehensive list of WA talents

AFL Draft | State in Focus: Western Australia - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central https://share.google/qDP8Ca90e2DSzTe8J

 

[Happy Mastenator]

A comprehensive list of WA talents

AFL Draft | State in Focus: Western Australia - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central https://share.google/qDP8Ca90e2DSzTe8J

If players develop like hoped (e.g. Benji shows he's a future no. 1 ruck), i'd be happy with walking away from next years draft with

1. Best mid available (arki Bulter/H Mellody)
2. Best Ruck available - Benji/Harry Van Hattum
3. Kenh as NGA

Warner as a free agent the following year.

 

[eaglevision]

If players develop like hoped (e.g. Benji shows he's a future no. 1 ruck), i'd be happy with walking away from next years draft with

1. Best mid available (arki Bulter/H Mellody)
2. Best Ruck available - Benji/Harry Van Hattum
3. Kenh as NGA

Warner as a free agent the following year.

Butler needs to show he can play full time mid but if he can I suspect we’d need to finish last to get him. After that Van Dyk would be a good selection for us.

Mellody probably gets to our 2R which I’d be happy with then Mitchell Stirling from Peel looks a good KPD option with our 3R.

Very early but there is some hope both Kenh and McGlade get to pick 37/3R so we just need our next pick to match although Kenh has a very wide range.

Shanahan (D) probably comes on as a Cat B rookie.

 

[EagleEgo]

If players develop like hoped (e.g. Benji shows he's a future no. 1 ruck), i'd be happy with walking away from next years draft with

1. Best mid available (arki Bulter/H Mellody)
2. Best Ruck available - Benji/Harry Van Hattum
3. Kenh as NGA

Warner as a free agent the following year.

I have seen another article about WCE having a few good small forwards on our 2026 NGA. We do need some Liam Ryan, Eddie Betts types of dynamic goal kickers.

 

[WCE777]

Butler needs to show he can play full time mid but if he can I suspect we’d need to finish last to get him. After that Van Dyk would be a good selection for us.

Mellody probably gets to our 2R which I’d be happy with then Mitchell Stirling from Peel looks a good KPD option with our 3R.

Very early but there is some hope both Kenh and McGlade get to pick 37/3R so we just need our next pick to match although Kenh has a very wide range.

Shanahan (D) probably comes on as a Cat B rookie.

From what's out there I tend to agree with your comments.
I feel we need to draft 1 more elite mid to finish the midfield.
1 of the below would be fantastic and add H Banfield as a role playing mid.

Butler is an X factor player if he can convert that to midfield he will go pick 1 of the non-aligned players.
Van Dyke looks every bit a top 5 mid in the open pool.
K Edwards looks to be the balanced mid of the group, very much in the S Cumming mould.

KPD options in order at this early stage look more plentiful.
Kale Mathews-Hampton/197/SA
Xavier Ladbrook/200/KP UTILITY/Vic C
Mitch Stirling/195/WA
Tate Hodgson/193/Vic M
Shanahan looks like he will get through to a late selection, highly dependant on his year and potential upside.

Kenh and McGlade would be the priorities of the NGA group and Harper Banfield looks to be the better Banfield and probably comes in as that role player type at this early stage, better skills than C Hall.

We do lack an X factor SF but hopefully McGlade or T Williams can develop or another NGA.

 

[ziad]

We know we have midfield depth, given we now have so many midfielders, we will end up letting some go that would be passable depth players.

This means that we don't need many in future drafts, what we need is a couple of quality ones to round out our top end, so high picks used on obtaining, then with 2nd/3rd rounders onwards we can draft talls/forwards/defenders, and take the time to develop them.

We now have the numbers, and hope. We dont have a proven match winning midfield yet.

 

[eaglevision]

I feel we need to draft 1 more elite mid to finish the midfield.
1 of the below would be fantastic and add H Banfield as a role playing mid.

Presuming we add Harper, we will then have him, Duursma, Harley, Allen, Allan, Gross, Hall and Fred all 21yo or under midfielders. Add Davis as a winger and that’s 9 mids 21yo and under. Will another 18 yo mid be a good idea at the end of the year or should we try and use that pick for a more established one or combination of players.

Kale Mathews-Hampton/197/SA
Xavier Ladbrook/200/KP UTILITY/Vic C
Mitch Stirling/195/WA
Tate Hodgson/193/Vic M

I wouldn’t be using a top 3 pick on a KPD, We’ve shown we can spot and develop them with later picks. Stirling is a very good fit for us.

We do lack an X factor SF but hopefully McGlade or T Williams can develop or another NGA.

I don’t think Brockman has the discipline to be regularly contribute at AFL level. Our small forwards should come from the above, add in Champion, maybe Farmer and possibly Long now that his knee is right.