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

[Holy Rioli]

Gold Coast: 48, 49

How do they still have these picks???

 

[Sydney Kicker]

North Melbourne has the prized first selection on night two and has had a keen interest in Sturt key defender Blake Thredgold, who was in contention to be taken by Geelong, Fremantle and Hawthorn later in the first round.

Eastern Ranges inside bull Ollie Greeves, Dandenong Stingrays forward Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves, Sandringham Dragons key forward Archie Ludowyke, Woodville-West Torrens midfielder Jevan Phillipou, the brother of emerging Saint Mattaes, and Oakleigh Chargers ruck-forward Louis Emmett shape as value selections for clubs on night two.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...s/news-story/87670ba047ff011d1a141b994bcac21e

Remaining picks

Adelaide: 46, 54
Brisbane: 42, 43, 50
Carlton: 28, 38, 44
Collingwood: 32, 37, 47, 51, 60
Essendon: 36
Fremantle: 39, 57
Geelong: 33
Gold Coast: 48, 49
GWS: 66
Hawthorn: 52, 59
Melbourne: 30, 56, 58
North Melbourne: 26, 45
Port Adelaide: 62, 67
Richmond: 31, 61
St Kilda: 40, 55, 63
Sydney: 35, 41, 53, 64
West Coast: 29, 34
Western Bulldogs: 27

*****

On Day 2 what we need is for early bids on Blues NGA as well as Eagles NGA. That could put us in a good position to trade for their next pick, would be great if we can package 52+59 and Sydney F3 that we hold instead of having to give up either our or GWS F2( can't trade Saints F2 to Eagles)

If not happy to see who drops out to pick 52( should be 45). NGA bis for Pies/Suns/Saints/Scum still to come.

Maybe Sam Swadling who we talked to, would like Riley Onley at 52 but Pies are into him too and hold picks before us( unless they lose it in NGA)

I'd sit on next years assets rather than trade them away. Much more potential upside hoarding them for drafting or trading next year. The chance that we hit the jackpot with a late pick isn't much reduced by waiting until the third round. With 25 players off the board in a supposedly shallow draft, the difference between number 26 and 52 is likely pretty small.

 

[Sydney Kicker]

How do they still have these picks???

Because the AFL is desperate for them to win a premiership and one thing GC has worked out is how to take advantage of the draft.

Thank god they have nfi how to develop players or they would win 6 flags in a row.

Their supporters must be over the moon. All 3 of them.

 

[kazzooka]

Our plan was to draft Grlj, when he was off the board we were always trading down. We gained 2 Future seconds while keeping 2 First round picks this year. Not sure you can say nothing went our way.

Nairn+ 2 Future seconds > Adelaide Future First.

Our plan was to trade away our first pick. Which we tried to do to get Merrett, then we did it 3x times. Once with Carlton during trade period, then with GWS, and then again with West Coast.

 

[Hawkstat]

I feel like it’s not a coincidence that we drafted 2 SA kids. Albeit 2 very talented kids. Thats now 4 very young SA we have. I would say the initial plan was to select a talented midfielder but when that didn’t materialise with the scum picking Sharp they opted for plan B being stockpiling SA kids as part of a potential future trade to Port for Butters. If that’s the plan and they don’t get butters anyway then they’ve got 2 talented kids anyway who will fill a long term need in forward line. It seems like a very clever strategic long term plan with many angles by the club

 

[Sydney Kicker]

I feel like it’s not a coincidence that we drafted 2 SA kids. Albeit 2 very talented kids. Thats now 4 very young SA we have. I would say the initial plan was to select a talented midfielder but when that didn’t materialise with the scum picking Sharp they opted for plan B being stockpiling SA kids as part of a potential future trade to Port for Butters. If that’s the plan and they don’t get butters anyway then they’ve got 2 talented kids anyway who will fill a long term need in forward line. It seems like a very clever strategic long term plan with many angles by the club

Probably more chance we are preparing to relocate the club to Port Augusta than a strategic move to gather assets for Butters. We aren't getting Butters in a trade with a whole lot of unproven recent SA draftees going back the other way. Will Day might move the needle for Port but even less chance we would include him in any deal. Just coincidence that the best available and/or the guys we liked happened to be from SA.

 

[ahhhhhh]

I feel like it’s not a coincidence that we drafted 2 SA kids. Albeit 2 very talented kids. Thats now 4 very young SA we have. I would say the initial plan was to select a talented midfielder but when that didn’t materialise with the scum picking Sharp they opted for plan B being stockpiling SA kids as part of a potential future trade to Port for Butters. If that’s the plan and they don’t get butters anyway then they’ve got 2 talented kids anyway who will fill a long term need in forward line. It seems like a very clever strategic long term plan with many angles by the club

Unless something remarkable happens in the next 12 months 2 x 18 year olds aren't going to even slightly move the needle for Butters. I think everyone just needs to give up on Butters, it isn't happening.

 

[killerspud]

in all fairness - the AFL should have given ALL the academy kids to Tasmania this year - allowing them to get a competative team up and running faster - especially seeing the northern teams are all in the finals or thereabouts

 

[BIGHAWK23]

Except it pushes back our improvements a year.

Combined trade and draft period is an almighty fail for us. We didnt get anything we wanted and risk the same happening next year when we have another crack at a contracted Humphrey.

Hopefully we dont go anywhere near Merrett.

Absolute rubbish

 

[Yardie]

So where are these midfielders we needed?

Remember when we drafted that skinny kid half back flanker in 2019 who became a midfielder? Maybe we see similar in Nairn.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I reckon the scum ****ed our plans. If we still had pick 13, crows would've contacted us for sharp , then we'd flick 13 to crows for future first! Then pick up whoever with the later pick. Nothing went our way as far as preferences in the draft. So, we just made out the best way we could with what we had left.

This is a horrible take, considering that it was reported well before draft night that we were open to moving back from 10.

If we were so keen on Sharp or Sharp being there, as you suggest, then we don’t tell clubs we are open to moving back.

We quite clearly knew how the draft was going to play out in regards to where others rated Nairn and that dictated what we did with trades, to the point that we even traded up from 22 to make sure we got our two targets.

 

[HeHateMe]

The pick we got from WC was that our original 1st Rd picks?

 

[unitedhawk2]

Is this AFL going to release a 2026 draft order since last night? That plus not being able to see who was bid on or how they matched is genuine amateur hour. Not to mention how hard it was to determine what trades actually happened last night.

Honestly, wtf are they doing.

You want them to release a 2026 draft order four months out from rhe 2026 season even beginning?

 

[eaglevision]

The pick we got from WC was that our original 1st Rd picks?

Saints F2

 

[almuz]

It sounds like we got two players we could have picked at our original two draft positions, in addition to getting a couple of future second rounders.

We still need another midfielder but glad we didn’t reach to fill a need as that rarely works out.

 

[HeHateMe]

Saints F2

Ah yeah sorry, I meant the 1st Rd picks we used to pick up Narin. Didn't really make that clear my bad.

 

[HR Roughnstuf]

How do they still have these picks???

It’s insane isn’t it

 

[LukeHodge15]

Maybe we just hit Walsh as Restricted Free Agent and Blues crater and take the top 5 pick rather than matching

 

[HedgeFund]

How do they still have these picks???

Traded out Rosas Jnr, Ainsworth, Fiorini, Budarick & Flanders plus made several pick trades in the last 3 days

 

[Yardie]

Is this AFL going to release a 2026 draft order since last night? That plus not being able to see who was bid on or how they matched is genuine amateur hour. Not to mention how hard it was to determine what trades actually happened last night.

Honestly, wtf are they doing.

I think this covers it. I had the same question last night and it took me a while to find this,

AFL National Draft Tracker - AFL.com.au

View all the picks as they happen at the AFL National Draft

www.afl.com.au

 

[danielG]

Traded out Rosas Jnr, Ainsworth, Fiorini, Budarick & Flanders plus made several pick trades in the last 3 days

We trade out similar calibre players (Worpel, CJ, Serong) and get a bag of chips, they trade out their surplus players and have the capital to bring in Petracca, and four first round draft picks, two of which are top 5.. The system is a complete debacle. Turns me off the game TBH…

 

[CHUBBSS]

Was pondering nicknames for our two new additions.

Could they form a formidable duo up forward and be schuBERT and Nairn-ie.

View attachment 2481306

Elite work

 

[Yardie]

Ben Waterworth from Fox Sports 2022 Draft Grades

ESSENDON

Picks (at start of the draft): 4, 22, 54, 61, 66

Selections: Elijah Tsatas (5), Lewis Hayes (25), Alwyn Davey (45), Jayden Davey (54)


Close to an ideal draft campaign. They weighed up several big offers from rival clubs for their first pick and settled on keeping it. Then weighed up taking Tsatas or Mattaes Phillipou with that pick and settled on Tsatas, who was seen by rivals as the safer bet over Phillipou. And rightly so, for the explosive on-baller, who’s been likened to Chad Warner and has been in the top-five mix for the past 12 months, should bring an exciting dynamic to Essendon’s midfield brigade. The Bombers then picked up one of the best key defenders in the draft class in Hayes, who had genuine first-round interest. Hayes is an elite interceptor with the ability to play on forwards both taller and smaller than him. And the Alwyn Davey bid came a lot later than most thought after speculation the Bombers would have to match in the middle of the second round. Bringing both Davey boys in via the national draft was the romantic story of night two. In Tsatas and the Davey brothers, the Bombers have acquired some much-needed leg speed.

Grade: B+

HAWTHORN

Picks (at start of the draft): 6, 24, 41, 48, 50, 52, 63

Selections: Cameron Mackenzie (7), Josh Weddle (18), Henry Hustwaite (37), Jack O’Sullivan (46), Bailey Macdonald (51)

Industry sources were left puzzled by a few Hawks moves. After losing Jaeger O’Meara and Tom Mitchell during the trade period, an inside midfield chasm at the Hawks emerged. List boss Mark McKenzie even flagged last week they’d be looking for a “big-bodied midfielder”. Gun tall on-ballers Mattaes Phillipou and Reuben Ginbey were both still on the board when it was time for the Hawks to select, but they instead went for Mackenzie. The Dragons prospect will be a star and has a strong inside class, but isn’t as big as Ginbey and Phillipou and is renowned for his class on the outside, to the point where some analysts can see him starting his AFL career at half-back. And when the Hawks traded back into the first round, most recruiters initially thought they’d pounce on slider Ed Allan. Instead they took a defender in Weddle — even though the Hawks drafted Will Day and Denver Grainger-Barras with first-round picks in past years. In order to gain Pick 18 in the first place, the Hawks had to give up Pick 27 plus their future second and third round picks. That could be a very high price, since most expect them to be a wooden spoon contender in 2023. For example if they finish 17th next year, they‘d be giving up 20, 27 and 38 and only getting 18 back – that’s like giving Sydney a late first-round pick for free, using draft points. Coincidentally, Sydney used Pick 27 it got from Hawthorn to take Hawks NGA graduate Cooper Vickery, meaning the Hawks didn’t have bidding rights as Vickery’s name was called before Pick 40. Hustwaite, though, was a steal at Pick 37, while Macdonald will provide ample dash from the back-half. Some risks that, of course, could pay off big time down the track.

Grade: D+

Ben plays checkers. MM plays this, hence the confusion.....

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Cal looked a bit frazzled trying to explain how he got it so wrong.

Had no clue on Grlj or Pickett.

His yearly "look how good I am at this" in tatters.

How much more exciting was the night when you don't know who was going to be selected?

Richmond may have snagged Grlj, but they really made the draft exciting again.

 

[A Diakos]

The craziest thing I realised tonight is that these kids were born in 2007…


…and Cal Twomey giving us a shout out for playing the night well gaining all the future picks

Virg was heavily criticised on fake face and twitter for being a bummer nuptie re Merrett saga and leaking their Weddle offer (ie the bummer mouthpiece )

So his praise of hawthorn I feel is in part trying to extend the olive wreath to hawk fans …he left his mate to inturn praise the bummers draft haul

Smart play by Virg overall