Draft Review Noob's 2025 Draft Prospect Video Thread

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Jack Dalton was close to best on ground for Metro in a disappointing loss against their big rival Country. Jack's work rate was outstanding all game and his tackling pressure was elite. Largely playing through the midfield with stints on a wing, he worked up and down the ground to continually provide the plus 1 at contests, fold back hard defensively and link the play in transition.

 

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A quieter game for Lindsay, not that he did anything less or different, he worked just as hard to overlap and spread as he always does, he simply wasn't used as much by his teammates as he typically is.

So instead let me wax lyrical about Lindsay's kicking. I struggle to conceive of a better kick of the football. His super low ball drop combined with his limited back swing or body movement allows him to go from decision to execution rapidly and greatly limits the opportunity for opponents to read his intention for intercepts. He can punch the ball low or float it into a pocked of space. He can shape the ball off the instep or outside of the boot. He can execute pin point kicks from standstill or a flat out sprint. He truly is the Bullseye of footy (although hopefully not a psychotic supervillain). Some have expressed concern over his defensive capabilities, but its worth noting that the biggest score source in the modern game is from frontal pressure causing defenses to turn the ball over. A weapon like Lindsay that can almost guarantee a swift and smooth exit of the defensive zone WILL prevent goals being scored against you.

 

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A second straight excellent game from Cody to finish off his champs campaign and underline his elite potential ahead of his draft year in 2026. He was among the best for Vic Country, working hard predominantly as a roaming marking target around the ground. Every movement with Cody is full gas, 100% attack, and adding some more subtlety to his game may end up being where potential improvement comes.

 

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One of Ollie Greeves best qualities is his consistency; there's very little difference between his best and worst performance. This was not one of his best, but he still found plenty of the footy and was influential at stoppage, winning a high % of contested footy and a number of clearances. The main issue was his kicking, which had been very good over recent weeks but regressed a little here, with Ollie biting off overly difficult options at times and getting a little lazy with his technique.

Still, overall a strong Champs campaign for Greeves who was named a deserving winner of the Vic Metro MVP award for the carnival.

 

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Another strong performance at the Champs from Sweid who ended up overcoming a poor first game to have a very strong carnival overall as one of Metro's prime midfield movers. Sweid was again excellent at winning contested footy, leading the game for clearances. He had more time and space for his disposal than is often the case, and used it to damage with the ball, directly settle up a number of scoring shots for his metro teammates and running at an elite 87% disposal efficiency.

 

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Cody Curtin monstered his Colts opponents on his way to a bag of 6 goals and a big win for Claremont. Curtin has dropped way off the draft radar in recent months with his struggles to impact for the Academy and for WA at the Champs. This game was a solid start to getting his draft campaign back on track, but we already know that he can monster Colts opponents. From here he's likely going to need a call up to play senior WAFL footy and perform at that level to really shift perception.

 

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Sturt have been dominant this season and they again did a number on Central Districts in this game. Dyson Sharp duly struggled like most of his teammates, but there are always things we can learn about a prospect and here we got to see how Sharp responded to adversity. He worked hard as always and applied strong tackling pressure around congestion in addition to other one percenters like smothers. He wasn't able to find a lot of the footy, and struggled to find targets when he did get it.

 

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Full highlights (yes for once this is actually a highlights video) of Willem Duursma's excellent 2025 Champs campaign that ended with him being awarded Vic Country's MVP.

 

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Full Champs highlights for Dyson Sharp who reminded everyone why he's been the standout prospect from this draft class for years coming up through the junior grades. He led his team brilliantly to a clean sweep at the Champs, dominating the competition, and Sharp duly took home a very much deserved Larke medal for his efforts.

 

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After an extended absence through a lingering back injury, pick 1 contender Zeke Uwland finally made his much anticipated season debut this weekend playing for the Suns in the VFL. He entered the fray for the first time early in the second quarter, perhaps the coaches waiting for some of the heat to come off the contest. He'll have better outings as he gets up to speed, but he found a decent amount of the ball, contested hard and showed some strong aerial skills for his size.

 

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One of several to make the step up to playing VFL footy this weekend, Willem put in a strong performance and did his draft stocks no harm in the process. He played wing all game, demonstrating both an aptitude for the role and the knowledge of how to play it, holding his width well and motoring up and down to always offer an outlet or a switch of play. His aerial prowess was clear, although he chose not to fly on a couple of occasions in situations where he will no doubt commit once he has more confidence at the level.

 

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Cody is building nicely and gaining confidence through his bottom age year, looking to be one of the top prospects for 2026. He had a big game here and very easily could have gone even bigger, kicking a bag of 5 goals and missing a number of other very getable opportunities. His aerial strength for a kid his size is excellent, and he brings a strong ground game and defensive pressure making him a very well rounded small forward prospect, as well as having shown an ability to go through the midfield at times this season.

 

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Full Champs highlights for the best kick of the footy to come through the junior ranks in many years. Lindsay is a real weapon, whether it be slicing through frontal pressure like a hot knife through butter or roaming high up the ground to set up attacking moves.

 

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With the under 16 Champs series run and won by Koby and his Metro team it seems the time has arrived for him to start integrating into the Calder Cannons team and start showing what he's got at Talent League level more regularly. This was a solid rather than outstanding game from Koby, with some clear signs that he'll need to adjust to the faster pace at this level, but he still had some fantastic moments such as his burst of pace through the middle finished off by a running goal from 60m in the third quarter.

 

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It took him a month or so at the start of the season to find his confidence at this level, but Cody's now become an unstoppable force in the Talent League. His pace and power give him the tools to consistently burst away from stoppage, dodging and weaving through opponents or shrugging off their tackling attempts. His kicking still needs a lot of work; he often seems to be traveling at such a velocity that he loses control of his technique, but he did show an ability to hit some lead up targets at times, so the potential is there.

 

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Dalton stuffed the stat sheet here, a reflection of his super high work rate and level of activity around stoppages and other contested situations. Unfortunately, his kicking was extremely poor, resulting in a lot of direct turnovers and contributing to an overall poor day for Sandy who suffered a big loss to Eastern.

 

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I'll admit, I did the first Justice video mostly because Essendon fans really wanted it, but you can probably figure out my lack of enthusiasm from the bland description I added. This time around, Justice was served. His inside game as come on in leaps and bounds this year. Natural inside mids have a way of moving that allows them to be in the right place at the right time and Justice has that, along with the agility and pace to navigate congestion for damaging disposals. His hands in close are slick, and he doesn't panic under pressure. The one thing that remains a bit of a question is his kicking skills, which vary from good to poor, with a slow action that invites more pressure than you'd like.

 

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Full Champs highlights for CDT. It wasn't the easiest Champs for Cooper who was stuck in a heavy ruck rotation with Louis Emmett and Zac McCarthy, but he still showed some of the elite physical traits and skills that have him highly likely to be the first big man called out on draft night.

 

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Arki Butler is shaping up as a top prospect for the 2026 draft. He had a big day out in this game, showing his impressive leap and marking prowess for a smaller forward, craft to lead laterally into space or up and the ball carrier and pace to get separation on his opponent, as well as some elite set shot conversion out beyond 50 meters. He even showed the desire to apply defensive pressure with a couple of strong run down tackles.

 

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An early look for Tigers supporters at their 2026 NGA Tanner Armstrong. A hard working and busy inside mid with strong stoppage craft who can also spread strongly to link play on the outside. Given his diminutive size it'll be interesting to see how his inside game holds up against the tougher challenges to come in his top age season, and he'll need to continue working on his kicking consistency.

 

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Xavier Bamert is a medium sized midfielder/utility and addition to the large contingent of classy left foot kickers in this draft pool. This game was a tough one for his Sandy Dragons on a heavy deck, but Xavier found plenty of the ball and used it well when he was able to find space. The most impressive part of his performance might have been the stints he had in the forward line where he provided a strong marking presence and created a number of scoring opportunities.

 

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Mikunda is a clever and versatile player who can sneak under the radar and end up damaging with his ability to set up attacking plays. He had two quieter games and two excellent performances at the Champs with this possibly being his best. He excels at the little things, such as his ability to be clean and composed in traffic and his excellent, attacking decision making with the ball.

 

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An early look for Essendon fans at their highly rated NGA Moustafa Darwish putting together a strong performance for Vic Metro as they cruised to a comfortable win over SA and clinched the U16 Champs. The things that stood out for Darwish in this game were his movement, ability to cover the ground, defensive pressure and his ability to consistently win contests at ground level all game.

 

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An excellent game from Dyson, one of Central's best in a strong win. Starting him on ball at the first bounce seemed to give him the confidence to get rolling and he took that confidence with him when moved into the forward line, becoming a lot more assertive than we've seen from him at times at this level. His work rate around the ground was a feature along with his marking which remains an underrated weapon in his arsenal. He misplaced a couple of disposals but for the most part was constructive with the ball.

 

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A truly impressive performance from Sam Grlj in his VFL debut. Where many kids struggle with their confidence and the increased pace of the VFL game, it looked like nothing could faze Grlj as he flew around the field laying tackles and taking on opponents with his speed and agility. Grlj had slid down many boards due to his middling Champs series, but performing this well at VFL level will be a real boost for his draft stocks.