Draft Review Noob's 2025 Draft Prospect Video Thread

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Possibly Fred's best performance of the 2024 Champs series. His clean hands, creative and attacking decision making and ability to execute his skills at a high level were all on show here.

 

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Huge stat stuffing performance from one of the elite tall prospects in the 2025 pool. CDT displayed his typical Brodie Grundy impersonation in the ruck with his elite ground level impact and ability to find the ball on the spread, getting involved in attacking ball movement. He wasn't always a dominant aerialist in his bottom age season, but in this game he showed that he's capable of taking a strong contested grab.

 

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Thrillem Duursma put together a strong performance here for the Power. Having been tried in a variety of roles thoughout the year he looked to have settled into to playing a combo mid/fwd role late in the season which fits his dynamic and versatile skill set. If he can find more consistency with his disposal by foot he could prove to be a serious contender for the first pick in the 2025 draft.

 

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Windy and wet conditions turned this game into a scrappy affair where clean skills were at a premium. Oli struggled with his disposal like most but used his elite combination of agility and size to find space where others couldn't, helping to give his Eastern team an advantage at stoppage all game.

 

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Emmett was everywhere in this game, competing at a high level in the ruck to set up his teammates with deft tap work, roaming the ground to take marks and link up possession chains, and when resting forward providing a strong marking target and hitting the scoreboard. His kicking technique can look awkward at times, but the rest of the package is undeniable.

 

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Another example of Dyson Sharp's mature and effective inside game as he racked up an impressive eight clearances as a bottom ager against Vic Country. His spatial awareness in traffic is outstanding, allowing him to find creative angles to release teammates into space. He does a lot of subtle work at stoppage that can go unnoticed such as using his body to block or shepherd, creating space for his teammates.

 

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The young man with the name that ruins my thumbnail graphics is back. Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves showed his outside dash and class in this game, working up and down the wing for the first three quarters of the game and getting involved in many of the best attacking moves for the Stingrays. With the game on the line entering the fourth quarter, his move into the forward line proved to be decisive with Noah slotting three majors for the term, helping his team to a relatively comfortable win.

 

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Lachy Dovaston will enter the season as one of the more highly rated small forward prospects in this draft class. Quick, hardworking, and with plenty of tricks at his disposal, he's able to create scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates through incisive moments with the ball or disruptive defensive pressure.

 

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A good example of Onley's strengths and weaknesses as a bottom ager in this game. His agility, pace and balance for a kid his size combined with an ability to win contested footy are exciting attributes, but the hope will be that he's able to put work into developing his disposal by foot over this pre-season.

 

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Sam Swadling is one of the guys in the 2025 draft pool that I feel isn't getting enough attention. He definitely needs to work on his composure with ball in hand and ability to execute skills under pressure, but his ability to find the footy inside and outside the contest is elite. His athleticism allows him to impact in the air and play taller than his 187cm height, giving him the versatility to play as a medium/third tall at either end when he's not in the midfield.

There are some issues to overcome, but his talent level could see him jump up the rankings in 2025.

 

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Carmichael is a strong and versatile small defender from the Swans academy. His strength overhead allows him to play taller than his height making him a versatile stopper, and his dash and composure with the footy allows him to impact the game rebounding from the D50 or getting involved in ball movement.

 

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A video for all you one eyed pies fans out there. Tom McGuane racks up a massive amount of the footy and repeatedly slices through an inferior NT Thunder team that increasingly resembled witches hats as the game went on. A demonstration of what Tom's capable of when the pressure is off.

 

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For this performance Kelly was named best on ground for WA by their coaching staff. He was particularly impressive in the opening quarter, booting a goal, finding the footy and applying strong tackling pressure. Blake is a strong and tough inside mid with a nose for the footy at stoppage which he showed at times in this game when given the opportunity to play on ball, but for a lot of the game he was stationed in the forward line which allowed him to show his versatility.

 

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Mutineer hot tip for 2025.

Charlie's a powerful unit with soft hands in the marking contest, capable of finding space on the lead and willing to throw himself at contests with disregard for his own safety. Being rather undersized at this stage, I'd like to see a little more ground game from him, but he seems destined to kick a lot of goals in the upcoming season.

 

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A look at elite prospect Fred Rodriguez putting in a strong performance as a bottom ager in the WAFL Colts competition. While he wasn't able to find quite as much space in this game as he typically does, he was damaging with the opportunities he had and put in a real shift at stoppage, extracting the footy himself or laying a strong tackle.

Can Fred make an early move in 2025 and challenge for pick 1 favouritism?

 

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The first half of the futures game offered Sam Grlj an opportunity to show his exciting dash and willingness to break lines with buccaneering runs out of defense. Moved up onto a wing in the second half he wasn't able to find quite as much space but still provided a regular outlet for his teammates.

 

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In 2024 big boy bottom-ager Ah-Mu regularly monstered kids a year older than him. A year later, it seems unlikely that anyone will be capable of matching his size and strength in the Talent League or Champs series. He possesses solid skills for such a big man and is capable of taking clean contested grabs.

 

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This was Louis' largest goal tally of the season and a very solid all round performance. While most of his goals came from free kicks, he drew them through his work rate and danger level in the forward 50 making his defender panic. I'm not 100% convinced yet with his somewhat awkward kicking technique, but in this game he was a deadeye in front of goal.

 

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The highlight of this Ollie Greeves performance for me was his move into the forward line in the fourth quarter. He got on the end of a number of chances, having the timing to hit up at the ball carrier on the lead in one instance and strength to protect space for a nice mark on another. If Ollie can prove himself to be a legitimate dual threat as a mid/fwd it will give his draft stocks a real boost.

 

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Just another game where NHH being moved from wing into the forward line in the fourth quarter led to him kicking the pivotal goals to surge his Stingrays team to victory. It will be a fascinating watch in 2025 to see what kind of role Noah plays. In the forward line he gets to feature his strong aerial prowess and ability to hit the scoreboard, where a wing role allows him to utilize his endurance and elite field kicking skills to set the table for his teammates.

 

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CDT playing a solid game in tough conditions. Given the rain his kicks were mostly attempts to take as much territory as possible and not always constructive, but he presented well, competed hard in the ruck and his follow up work at ground level was excellent as is typical for him.

 

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Another Max King is about to arrive on the AFL scene to challenge for the title of Australia's number 1 Max King. He was elusive in 2024, not playing for the Swans academy in their Talent League campaign, leaving draft watchers and Swans fans with this fantastic performance in the futures trial get to get excited about what he might be capable of. A combination of midfielder and marking forward with some real aerial prowess and clean hands, not afraid to get stuck in at ground level to win the footy or apply strong tackle pressure.

 

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And we're back! Thanks to the SANFL U18s comp kicking off earlier than everyone else we have new draft prospect footage from season 2025 to check out, starting with one of SA's best Sam Cumming. He showed signs of rust here with his typically excellent kicking skills letting him down a little and the connection piece with his leading forwards not quite being there, but there was plenty to like as well. He looks to have added plenty of muscle to his frame over the preseason and showed some power inside the contest. If he can emerge as a balanced inside/outside midfield threat in his top age year he could push his case as a top 10 fancy.

 

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Sam Cumming could hardly have been more impressive through the first two rounds of the SANFL U18 season. He's too powerful and evasive for this level, impossible to stop as he consistently navigates from inside the contest to the outside to release his teammates or create space to deliver a high quality ball. In this game he had his hand in a number of score involvements, including kicking a couple of crucial goals of his own as his Roosters side powered ahead in the second half to record a comfortable win.

 

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Aidan Schubert is an imposing and physical forward/ruck with sticky hands. In the ruck he competes well, is often able to overpower his opponent with strength, and doesn't mind following up at ground level with a tackle. As a forward he presents strongly at the footy, able to mark on the lead or in contested situations. His main deficiency is his slow and awkward kicking technique which has caused his set shot conversion to be inconsistent.