List Mgmt. 2026 AFL Draft

[fargothegreat]

So as a starting point, how do our selections look assuming we have a similar 2026 finishing bottom 3? On the face of things and not subject to other teams academy/father sons:-

Pick 3 - best available
Pick 21- Armstrong Academy?
Pick 39 - Leys F/S?
Pick 57 - Daffy F/S?
Pick 93- Pass

Plus we clearly need a ruck and free agents. I'm thinking 2 or 3 of:-

Ned Reeves/Max Knobel
Obviously Butters
Buku Khamis
Zac Bailey

Lynch Prestia and Broad retire to there's probably another 2 or 3 to be delisted as per usual.

Buku Khamis??? He wouldn't even get a game for us lol.

 

[4tune8]

Id be surprised if we didn't take at least our first pick to the draft next year and then unload on a couple of high end free agents.

Yep with teams able to ask for 3 x 1st rounders you'd wanna have a bloody good player on the hook when you're picking in the top 5 with the first of those picks.

Reckon it's going to be the last opportunity to buy players for a couple of years, whilst I'd like to see us taking that top 5 pick, I can also see it being used to buy a top end player.

Who knows who could be winkled out? There was a lot of player movement this year with Curnow, TDK, Petracca, Oliver, Steele, Allen, Flanders, Fiorini plus others and Merrett should have gone as well.

We set the trend last year in trading out best 23 players for draft capital, quite a few followed suit this year. That trend will continue into 2026, particularly with Tassie entering the market in 2027.

The other side of the coin is that Tassie have to use picks 5, 7, 11 & 13 for trades, clubs can still access those picks by trading players out.

 

[Drunken Wookie]

ESPN Way Too Early Top 10

1. Dougie Cochrane (Port Adelaide NGA)
Central Districts/South Australia
FWD/MID, 196cm

There are few players to come through the pathways with the profile of Cochrane. The roaming key forward is springy and has a burst of speed to separate on the lead, which he also uses as a tall midfielder to exit congestion. He's a long, booming kick of the football and times his leaps to perfection with sticky hands, marking out in front and competing well in packs. His aerial dominance, dexterity on the ground and athletic profile is a ridiculous combination, and he kicked four goals - in the first half - of his SANFL debut to rubberstamp credentials. Cochrane's Indigenous background ties him to the Power.

2. Cody Walker (Carlton Father-Son)
Bendigo Pioneers/Vic Country
MID, 184cm

Walker runs with the familiar hunch of his dad Andrew, but he's a very different player to the high-flying forward. A pure midfielder with growing contested craft, Walker is at his best in space with lightning agility coupled with confidence to hold onto the ball and pick out damaging options. He gets forward to kick long running goals, uses his power in one-on-one contests and runs all day with an elite work ethic. Walker is already training with the Blues in the lead-in to Christmas.

3. Harry Van Hattum
Northern Knights/Vic Metro
RUC/FWD, 202cm

Van Hattum is one of the most exciting ruck prospects of the decade. He boasts a big frame to continue growing into but is already strong-bodied tall which, coupled with his leap and running power, makes him near-on impossible to contain. Van Hattum routinely grabs the ball out of the ruck, can follow up at ground level with skill and has evolved his forward game to become a presence when resting.

4. Arki Butler
Sandringham Dragons/Vic Metro
MID/FWD, 180cm

Butler will set himself for a heavy dose of midfield time next year, but he has amazing value as a powerful small forward. The Dragons star is lively with good burst but earns most of his opportunity with smart reading of the play and positioning. His craft is elite in the forward half and he works himself into the ground when he gets chances on-ball.

5. Marlon Neocleous
Gippsland Power/Vic Country
FWD/MID, 168cm

Neocleous is diminutive, but don't pigeonhole him as a small forward. Up afield he can inject energy on-ball, and looms as a super damaging weapon in a variety of roles. Neocelous offers quintessential craft as a small forward, kicking goals in a variety of ways from open play and pressuring opponents with his proactiveness without the ball.

6. Heath Mellody
Claremont/Western Australia
MID/DEF, 181cm

Mellody had a strong season, then exploded in his finals campaign for Claremont to put himself in this upper echelon. A strong-running outside midfielder, his greatest strength may be his aerial work, able to link play with strong hands as an outlet on a wing, or intercept and kickstart play with his positioning off halfback. Mellody is a pure footballer with good instincts and smart decision-making.

7. Lucas Robinson (Fremantle NGA)
South Fremantle/Western Australia
MID, 189cm

The standout inside midfielder to this point is Robinson, a bulldozing contested player who only knows one way. Robinson's overwhelming strength and power sees him collect dizzying numbers with regulation, and he stood up well on grand final day against the Claremont midfield. Robinson can move forward with strong hands in the air, but often chooses to handball instead of kick. Linked to Fremantle due to his Zimbabwean heritage after the Dockers reviewed his status as a West Coast-tied prospect due to his home being on the other side of their NGA catchment.

8. Jack Pickett
Geelong Falcons/Vic Country
FWD, 193cm


Pickett plays as an old school deep forward, using his physicality to advantage and protecting the drop zone of the ball. He's an accurate and long-kicking set shot of the ball and thrives when the ball is delivered to advantage with great hands out in front on the lead. Pickett has a limited game outside of his excellent work as a presenting forward.

9. Koby LeCras
West Perth/Western Australia
FWD, 191cm

LeCras is the nephew of West Coast great Mark, but has added height and aerial ability to the sharpshooting medium forward. An elite reader of the ball in flight, LeCras does his work early to create position and routinely takes impressive contested marks inside 50. His nous to find the goals in open play is elite and he can move up the ground to impact in the air as well.

10. Kodah Edwards
South Adelaide/South Australia
MID, 183cm

There's a lot to like about Edwards' style of play, from his hard-nosed courage at the coalface to his energetic forward running and scoreboard impact. He's a quick-thinking midfielder who may play his best football up forward where his elite skill execution under pressure and want to impact physically are valuable traits. Edwards will endear himself to fans with his selfless style of play and unbelievable courage in the air.

HVH lock it in.

 

[tiger_tough]

Reckon it's going to be the last opportunity to buy players for a couple of years, whilst I'd like to see us taking that top 5 pick, I can also see it being used to buy a top end player.

Who knows who could be winkled out? There was a lot of player movement this year with Curnow, TDK, Petracca, Oliver, Steele, Allen, Flanders, Fiorini plus others and Merrett should have gone as well.

We set the trend last year in trading out best 23 players for draft capital, quite a few followed suit this year. That trend will continue into 2026, particularly with Tassie entering the market in 2027.

The other side of the coin is that Tassie have to use picks 5, 7, 11 & 13 for trades, clubs can still access those picks by trading players out.

We won't be at a stage where we should handing over top 5 picks for players next year IMO.

If anything some clubs will be more desperate for early picks during the tassie raids.

 

[4tune8]

We won't be at a stage where we should handing over top 5 picks for players next year IMO.

If anything some clubs will be more desperate for early picks during the tassie raids.

We'll be hitting the player market hard at the end of 2026, this has already been stated.

Port and Essendon could well finish below us and have 2 compo picks, if we finish 16th then our 1st pick could be pick 6 or 7.

I have no doubt that we'll be trading for players, if we have to use our 1st next year in combination with our futures to secure the players we want then we'll be doing it.

Bookmark it.

 

[_RT_]

HVH lock it in.

If he has a big 2026 season it's going to be hard to overlook even for the anti ruck early pick brigade

 

[tiger_tough]

We'll be hitting the player market hard at the end of 2026, this has already been stated.

Port and Essendon could well finish below us and have 2 compo picks, if we finish 16th then our 1st pick could be pick 6 or 7.

I have no doubt that we'll be trading for players, if we have to use our 1st next year in combination with our futures to secure the players we want then we'll be doing it.

Bookmark it.

Yeah via free agency IMO. Maybe a role player or two via trade but no chance we trade out a top 5 pick next year.

 

[Drunken Wookie]

If he has a big 2026 season it's going to be hard to overlook even for the anti ruck early pick brigade

its too bad for them because ive locked it in.

 

[tiger_tough]

its too bad for them because ive locked it in.

I've ruled it out.

 

[Drunken Wookie]

I've ruled it out.

 

[tigs2010]

10. Kodah Edwards
South Adelaide/South Australia
MID, 183cm

There's a lot to like about Edwards' style of play, from his hard-nosed courage at the coalface to his energetic forward running and scoreboard impact. He's a quick-thinking midfielder who may play his best football up forward where his elite skill execution under pressure and want to impact physically are valuable traits. Edwards will endear himself to fans with his selfless style of play and unbelievable courage in the air.

This is the bloke I mentioned Saturday as an option for us. Watch him slide now Jasper is on board.

 

[4tune8]

Yeah via free agency IMO. Maybe a role player or two via trade but no chance we trade out a top 5 pick next year.

We'll be using all avenues available to secure the players we want, FA is just part of that. Pick 5-6-7 or whatever will form the basis of a player trade. Very much like we did when we secured Prestia, most were up in arms at the time IIRC, he proved to be an integral piece to the premiership puzzle.

Some will say that it's too early on our premiership clock and maybe it is, but we have to make the move next year given Tassie's entry and the fact that we'll have to use or lose our banked salary cap.

 

[_RT_]

This is the bloke I mentioned Saturday as an option for us. Watch him slide now Jasper is on board.

Ollie Greeves vibes

 

[captain cotch 9]

this time last year NHH, Greevs and Rodrequies where talked about.
I remember talking about Rodreques as a potential top pick.

 

[tiger_tough]

Zak Bailey would be perfect. Give him $1.5m+ a season for 7 years.

Kieran Briggs would be good if he gets back to some form this season. His best is elite.

Ned Reeves.

Rhylee West

14

Rhylee West

Age

25

Ht

183cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.3

3star

K

5.7

2star

HB

6.7

4star

M

2.5

3star

T

1.5

3star

G

0.5

3star

D

12.0

3star

K

6.0

2star

HB

6.0

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

2.0

3star

G

0.3

3star

D

13.0

4star

K

5.6

3star

HB

7.4

5star

M

2.2

3star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.6

3star

 

[tigs2010]

Ollie Greeves vibes

 

[4tune8]

Zak Bailey would be perfect. Give him $1.5m+ a season for 7 years.

Kieran Briggs would be good if he gets back to some form this season. His best is elite.

Ned Reeves.

Rhylee West

Kiddy Coleman might be another to look at.

 

[tigs2010]

Zak Bailey would be perfect. Give him $1.5m+ a season for 7 years.

Kieran Briggs would be good if he gets back to some form this season. His best is elite.

Ned Reeves.

Rhylee West

We get a good year to look at the ruck rules. Probably need 2 rucks to get through the rebuild. One post Nank and then another as our guys are in the latter stages like Maric then Nank (hopefully we can avoid a Hampson this time lol)

Add Ramsden & Madden as ones to watch too.

Reeves definitely an interesting watch with new ruck rules due to his size. Can the campaigner mark?

 

[tiger_tough]

Kiddy Coleman might be another to look at.

Would have to be a trade, hes not a FA yet.

 

[tiger_tough]

We get a good year to look at the ruck rules. Probably need 2 rucks to get through the rebuild. One post Nank and then another as our guys are in the latter stages like Maric then Nank (hopefully we can avoid a Hampson this time lol)

Add Ramsden & Madden as ones to watch too.

Reeves definitely an interesting watch with new ruck rules due to his size. Can the campaigner mark?

We could get Soldo back for free....

 

[_RT_]

We'll be using all avenues available to secure the players we want, FA is just part of that. Pick 5-6-7 or whatever will form the basis of a player trade. Very much like we did when we secured Prestia, most were up in arms at the time IIRC, he proved to be an integral piece to the premiership puzzle.

Some will say that it's too early on our premiership clock and maybe it is, but we have to make the move next year given Tassie's entry and the fact that we'll have to use or lose our banked salary cap.

If we finish bottom 3 I would rather take the pick to the draft than to trade out as far as free agency is concerned there is only really Butters Bailey & Walsh that appeal and with Butters and Bailey apparently already being chased by other clubs that only really leaves Walsh and gee it would be great to snare him from them as he would be the cherry on top as far as our midfield is concerned.

 

[tigs2010]

We could get Soldo back for free....

Tassie has pick 1, no point tanking anymore...

 

[4tune8]

If we finish bottom 3 I would rather take the pick to the draft than to trade out as far as free agency is concerned there is only really Butters Bailey & Walsh that appeal and with Butters and Bailey apparently already being chased by other clubs that only really leaves Walsh and gee it would be great to snare him from them as he would be the cherry on top as far as our midfield is concerned.

We'll certainly be targeting FA's like Bailey, not so sure about Walsh, his disposal is shite. However, we don't need draft capital to pay for FA's, we'll be using that capital to pay for contracted players.

 

[Tiger_Of_Old]

Carlton has 2 x R1 picks next year, they'll be able to match any bid for Walker without worry. Port is an interesting one currently have 1 x R1 2 x R2 & 2 x R3 next year. Depending on how they tighten up the bidding process they may need to do some trading

Think they'll be ok once Butters goes FA.

 

[sregit]

I'm not saying we will get walker, im asking the valuation of what the pick would be worth if we were in a position to get him and carlton might not have enough capital. If someway carlton win a final for example and Sydney make it deep into the finals, trying to assess what a top 3 pick may look like value wise via a trade.

But we are not in a position to get Walker so don't waste your time. Plus the AFL are yet to set the rules for matching. So it's impossible to even work out his value.