Preview 2026 National Draft Thread

[King Corey]

Baxter Sruk = The Me Off

 

[King Corey]

George Dimer = The Dozen

 

[Flawed Genius]

George Dimer = The Dozen

Bastard

 

[My Left Foote]

Lewis Houndsome = The Devil

 

[My Left Foote]

Harrison Leeder = The Newspaper

 

[zoomba23]

Renowned for knocking one out every now and again by the billabong.

I always suspected that 'waiting for his billy to boil' was a euphemism

 

[Lomas]

I always suspected that 'waiting for his billy to boil' was a euphemism

Wait until you google double jumbuck

 

[noobermensch]

Harris was again effective in the second warm up game for SA although significantly less influential than in game 1. For most of the first half Harris' opponent stuck to the goal square, seemingly a strategy to keep Harris out of the play and reduce his influence and marking dominance inside D50. In the second half Harris started to get more proactive, impacting aerially and disrupting NSW's attacking forays. Harris will be one to keep an eye when the champs kick off in a couple of weeks, a strong carnival could see him push up inside the top 20.

 

[giantroo]

 

[chubbspeterson]

Good to see Will Antrobus getting some attention. Love his penetrating left foot kick. Stood out to me earlier this year.
Thought he was an overage player. We probably have tha player in Colby or Hardemann though as lefties.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Zero Hanger June Power Rankings

 

[chubbspeterson]

 

[hoffseason gains 01]

Zero Hanger June Power Rankings
View attachment 2630258View attachment 2630262View attachment 2630265

Seems a genuine 50/50 we keep our pick (based on a Wilson or similar trade)

We sit in a very weird situation. Pick 6-10 is probably where the pick lands.

I’m confident the Top 5 will be something like:

1. PA - Dougie Cochrane
2. CAR - Cody Walker
3. ESS - Harry Van Hattum
4. RIC - Arki Butler
5. WC - Clancy Snell

If the ladder sits as it does today we’re picking at 6, which is probably the start of the next tier of players.

A Wilson trade would be an ideal use of our first.

If we stay and pick, it’s unfortunately probably between Noah Williams, Gus Teixeira, Kodah Edwards and Ethan Drever for mine on talent. All midfielders. If we take them I would think Williams or Drever would start off half back or on a wing. Teixeira or Edwards would start as half forwards. A wildcard is Ethan Herbert - you don’t see many 200cm+ guys with those skills and that movement ability, maybe you just pick him and try him back or forward.

Picking on need and not talent - El Souki, Patterson or Neocleous an obvious one as another small forward, can we afford to go two small forwards in a row? No real defenders in the group from 6-12. Maybe Harrison Chapman as another long running type, I’m not sure he screams top 10 for me. Szerszyn too little exposed form.

So maybe a trade back is the best option?
Send the first to say Essendon/(Hawks) assuming a Merrett trade goes through, get a pick in the teens and an early second (or maybe even Essendon’s compo for the matched bid)

If we traded back - we could bring in say a combo of say Koby Lecras (tall mismatch nightmare with his movement and skills, proper Clarko player) and Wil Antrobus (penetrative left footed small defender).

Will be a much more difficult job for our recruiters this year than previous.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Seems a genuine 50/50 we keep our pick (based on a Wilson or similar trade)

We sit in a very weird situation. Pick 6-10 is probably where the pick lands.

I’m confident the Top 5 will be something like:

1. PA - Dougie Cochrane
2. CAR - Cody Walker
3. ESS - Harry Van Hattum
4. RIC - Arki Butler
5. WC - Clancy Snell

If the ladder sits as it does today we’re picking at 6, which is probably the start of the next tier of players.

A Wilson trade would be an ideal use of our first.

If we stay and pick, it’s unfortunately probably between Noah Williams, Gus Teixeira, Kodah Edwards and Ethan Drever for mine on talent. All midfielders. If we take them I would think Williams or Drever would start off half back or on a wing. Teixeira or Edwards would start as half forwards. A wildcard is Ethan Herbert - you don’t see many 200cm+ guys with those skills and that movement ability, maybe you just pick him and try him back or forward.

Picking on need and not talent - El Souki, Patterson or Neocleous an obvious one as another small forward, can we afford to go two small forwards in a row? No real defenders in the group from 6-12. Maybe Harrison Chapman as another long running type, I’m not sure he screams top 10 for me. Szerszyn too little exposed form.

So maybe a trade back is the best option?
Send the first to say Essendon/(Hawks) assuming a Merrett trade goes through, get a pick in the teens and an early second (or maybe even Essendon’s compo for the matched bid)

If we traded back - we could bring in say a combo of say Koby Lecras (tall mismatch nightmare with his movement and skills, proper Clarko player) and Wil Antrobus (penetrative left footed small defender).

Will be a much more difficult job for our recruiters this year than previous.

Yep. Ideally Clancy Snell is there or we slide back if we keep the pick.
Drever might well rise into pick 4 like Callaghan with his size/height, talent and consistency.
Chapman intrigues me. El Souki would be great, but tied to Dogs and you'd think they find a way to match, but might required them trading a player out to get a pick to go with their R2.

If we do trade it for Wilson, you could trade the 2027 R1 for some combo of R2(s) (Hawks/Port/*) and/or F2.
Blues have 17, 24, 32 and possibly 25 if bottom five. Hawks have 25, 27 & 34.
* will have 19 & 20 (PP - bottom five). Port have 21 & 23. Possibly 24 if bottom five.
Potentially you could flick that R2 for Gruzewski or you take two some combination of half back/wing (Chapman/Mellody/Antrobus) or key position (Spawton-Guy/Marsic/Ladbrook/Harris etc.)

 

[shinboner magic]

Seems a genuine 50/50 we keep our pick (based on a Wilson or similar trade)

We sit in a very weird situation. Pick 6-10 is probably where the pick lands.

I’m confident the Top 5 will be something like:

1. PA - Dougie Cochrane
2. CAR - Cody Walker
3. ESS - Harry Van Hattum
4. RIC - Arki Butler
5. WC - Clancy Snell

If the ladder sits as it does today we’re picking at 6, which is probably the start of the next tier of players.

A Wilson trade would be an ideal use of our first.

If we stay and pick, it’s unfortunately probably between Noah Williams, Gus Teixeira, Kodah Edwards and Ethan Drever for mine on talent. All midfielders. If we take them I would think Williams or Drever would start off half back or on a wing. Teixeira or Edwards would start as half forwards. A wildcard is Ethan Herbert - you don’t see many 200cm+ guys with those skills and that movement ability, maybe you just pick him and try him back or forward.

Picking on need and not talent - El Souki, Patterson or Neocleous an obvious one as another small forward, can we afford to go two small forwards in a row? No real defenders in the group from 6-12. Maybe Harrison Chapman as another long running type, I’m not sure he screams top 10 for me. Szerszyn too little exposed form.

So maybe a trade back is the best option?
Send the first to say Essendon/(Hawks) assuming a Merrett trade goes through, get a pick in the teens and an early second (or maybe even Essendon’s compo for the matched bid)

If we traded back - we could bring in say a combo of say Koby Lecras (tall mismatch nightmare with his movement and skills, proper Clarko player) and Wil Antrobus (penetrative left footed small defender).

Will be a much more difficult job for our recruiters this year than previous.

Time we trade down if the player we want is gone - especially target our needs.
Enough of taking the best player available bs the club feeds us.
Small forward as I think 2-3 in that position might get delisted.
Rebounding back
Kpd
Would say more mids but if we take Harris and Devine that should be enough.

 

[Harris 10]

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Some good player profiles in this top 50:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/06/04/2026-top-50-draft-power-rankings-v2-0/

If we retain our first it's Snell, Drever or Edwards for mine. I know we don't need another high end midfielder, but outside of Snell there aren't many defenders who are pushing up into that top 15 calcs. Maybe Heath Mellody might be the go if we are outside the top 6/7 picks.

Mitch Harris who noobermensch highlighted above is definitely one to keep an eye on in the champs, his intercept marking is as clean as anyone in this draft pool. Curious to see how he goes in the one on ones against better opposition in the champs.

Still think Tate Hodgson will be a good option as a more intercepting style defender too.

 

[giantroo]

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Good to see Will Antrobus getting some attention. Love his penetrating left foot kick. Stood out to me earlier this year.
Thought he was an overage player. We probably have tha player in Colby or Hardemann though as lefties.

How do you rate his defending chubbspeterson? His kicking is sublime, but he seems very outside to me (I've only seen one of his games this year though).

Ideally we need a skillful half back who can also defend.

George Gale from WA is a watch for mine, he doesn't mind the hard style and is long and rangy in that Darcy Wilmot mould.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Some good player profiles in this top 50:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/06/04/2026-top-50-draft-power-rankings-v2-0/

If we retain our first it's Snell, Drever or Edwards for mine. I know we don't need another high end midfielder, but outside of Snell there aren't many defenders who are pushing up into that top 15 calcs. Maybe Heath Mellody might be the go if we are outside the top 6/7 picks.

Mitch Harris who noobermensch highlighted above is definitely one to keep an eye on in the champs, his intercept marking is as clean as anyone in this draft pool. Curious to see how he goes in the one on ones against better opposition in the champs.

Still think Tate Hodgson will be a good option as a more intercepting style defender too.

Yep. Snell or Drever. Slide back to get Harris/Ladbrook and Mellody/Szerzyn combo?
I don't know much about Hudson Graham from WA, but Twomey has him in his top 25 prospects as a kpd.

 

[chubbspeterson]

How do you rate his defending chubbspeterson? His kicking is sublime, but he seems very outside to me (I've only seen one of his games this year though).

Ideally we need a skillful half back who can also defend.

George Gale from WA is a watch for mine, he doesn't mind the hard style and is long and rangy in that Darcy Wilmot mould.

I'd agree. As I said we've kinda got Colby who is similar.
I've only seen a couple of game of Will's, but I'm not sure he's the greatest 1v1 defender, probably a bit like D'Ambrosio.
Def not as good a defender as your Szerzyn/Hodgson.

I don't know much about Gale. Only really know Spawton-Guy and Mellody. Keen to see them in WA team.