Draft Review Noob's 2025 Draft Prospect Video Thread

[noobermensch]

Carlton NGA Jack Ison is putting together a strong close to the campaign, making a case to be in the mix for a bid in the first round of the draft. His pace, power and physicality make him a real handful at stoppage, and his ability to find the ball and influence in the forward line makes him a real dual position threat. His average kicking skills are the main question mark in an otherwise impressive package.

 

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This game was a bit of a mess played in wild conditions. Strong wind, driving rain and a waterlogged field all contributed to making this one where all players struggled to execute their skills, and NHH was no exception, but overall this was still a strong performance. His willingness to get stuck in and win the hard ball was pretty impressive given he's typically more of an outside operator, and although his disposal efficiency wasn't great, his hands at ground level with a slippery ball were for the most part clean.

 

[noobermensch]

The first half and a bit of this game was excellent from Grlj. Given the heavy conditions he was clean with the ball, but the most impressive aspect of his performance was his defensive impact, using his elite closing speed to rack up tackles and pull off some excellent disruptive spoils. Unfortunately, he seemed to tweak an ankle mid way through the third term forcing him to limp to the bench. He returned to play, but was visibly limited, and ended up spending most of the fourth quarter playing out of the goal square.

 

[noobermensch]

A solid performance from Dovaston who contributed to his teams avalanche of goals to bury their opponents in the first Talent League finals week. He was super quiet in the opening quarter before a couple of runs on ball got him going in the second. He was dangerous around goal as he always is, slotting four opportunistic majors and helping to set up a number of other scoring chances for his teammates.

 

[noobermensch]

In a super entertaining finals matchup Blake Kelly was one of the major protagonists. He did a lot of his best work around stoppage, consistently giving his team first use and driving them forward, able to not just release his teammates with hands but also use power and pace to burst into space at times for more damaging disposals. His kicking was iffy early but increasingly accurate as the game progressed. Ultimately Swan Districts were run over by West Perth in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't for want of any effort from Blake who at times seemed to be the lone man trying to hold back the tide.

 

[noobermensch]

Sweid was one of the standout performers on the day but wasn't able to prevent his team from falling to defeat against the Chargers. He was tough and contested as he always is, and fairly clean in the slippery conditions and heavy deck. His disposal was iffy early but increasingly effective and damaging as the game wore on. His gut running allowed him to find space ahead of the ball on a number of occasions, leading to a high number of attacking possessions penetrating forward 50.

 

[noobermensch]

Even though his Claremont team ultimately lost the game, Eagles father-son prospect Charlie Banfield was clearly best on ground. Banfield did a bit of everything and seemed to be involved in every phase of play, winning contested footy, laying huge tackles, launching himself for spectacular marks and kicking a couple of goals to boot. This hasn't been the most consistent season for Charlie, but he's found confidence and form at the right end of the season on the back of a couple of league appearances for the Eagles.

 

[noobermensch]

Another addition to our 2025 hyphen brigade, mature age prospect Latrelle Sumner-Pickett was reportedly a potential target for clubs in the mid-season draft and will have done his chances of getting picked up no harm with this exciting recent senior SANFL debut performance. Kicking 4 goals and helping to set up a number of other scoring moves for Glenelg, LSP was perhaps at his most impressive when he was able to run with ball in hand, dodging and weaving past opponents.

 

[noobermensch]

After his massive game last week that put him on the draft map in a big way there were plenty of eyes on Sullivan Robey this weekend and he backed it up with another impressive performance. He played more forward than midfield this week but again found plenty of the ball, breaking open the game and setting up attacking moves with his size, pace and power through contact which is proving extremely difficult to contain at this level.

 

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Greeves was huge in the opening term, driving his team forwards with incisive and attacking play, and kicking a couple of goals as Eastern jumped out to a big lead. He was quieter after his hot start, playing more forward than mid and eventually sitting out most of the fourth quarter on the bench, perhaps the coaching staff resting their star player with victory secured.

Despite some ranking lists having him lower, Greeves looks every bit the top 10 pick to me and has impressed through the second half of the season. His move forward to make space for others like Robey through midfield has shown his versatility and how impactful he can be down there with his marking especially impactful. While he's still not a defensive demon by any means, he's shown clear signs in recent weeks that he's focusing on that side of the game which demonstrates a willingness to improve areas of weakness.

 

[noobermensch]

Although his team ultimately was bundled out of the finals with a goal after the siren, Tairon Ah-Mu was a consistently powerful and impactful presence in this game, from clunking marks and kicking goals in the forward 50 to his ruck stints where he showed his ability to roam the ground and get involved in the play. Ah-Mu is a unique prospect in this draft pool with his immense size and power for a key forward, and where he may lack pace, he makes up for it with clean one touch marking and impressive ground level work for such a big man.

 

[noobermensch]

Statistically a quieter game from Willem but he was significantly limited by the circumstances and conditions of the contest. About as wind effected a game as you'll see outside of Williamstown, strongly favouring one end of the ground. Gippsland tried to use Duursma strategically, playing him onball when they were against the wind in Q1 and Q3, and mostly deep forward in Q2 and Q4. The problem with this strategy was that the wind was so wild that getting any kind of structured or accurate penetration of the F50 was nearly impossible, and so Willem was left to fight for scraps in the F50 which he did well but it restricted his overall impact on the contest. He still managed to snag a couple of goals, the last of which sealed a hard fought win for the Power.

 

[noobermensch]

I prematurely declared CDT's season over in my last video on him, but unfortunately this truly is his last game for season 2025 after his Cannons took a heavy loss to the red-hot Ranges. This wasn't as strong a performance this week for CDT, again splitting his time pretty evenly between ruck and deep forward where he was largely starved of opportunities with Ranges dominating territory. He did show his immense talent in moments, including one huge grab in the goal square that the umpire inexplicably refused to pay.

CDT ends his season in rarefied air as an elite prospect and a probable top 5 pick.

 

[noobermensch]

It's been an indifferent close to the season for Lindsay, but this was a step up on his past couple of performances. The crazy wind on the day effected his ability to slice the game open with attacking corridor kicks like he normally does, but that didn't stop him from going for it and you have to admire his confidence. He turned the ball over a few times, including one bad handball that led directly to a goal, but his defensive intent was excellent, and he closed space well all game to disrupt opponents with tackles and smothers.

 

[noobermensch]

Charlie McKinnon was the hero on the day with a bag of 6 goals including a game winning goal after the siren from a tough angle to put the Rebels through to a prelim final. McKinnon has been comfortably the leading goal kicker in the Talent League this season with 53 majors in his 15 games at an average of 3.5 per contest, including bags of 8, 7 and now 6 more in a pressure final.

 

[noobermensch]

It's been a bit of a difficult year for Cody, but this was a strong game from him in a high pressure situation, demonstrating that he can impact when he's able to get the game on his terms. The conditions weren't ideal for a big key forward with heavy rain and wind and a slippery footy, but Cody's hands in marking contests were secure and his bodywork was a feature all game.

 

[noobermensch]

Not bolting quite as hard as his teammate Sullivan Robey, but Oskar appears to have played himself right into first round contention on the back of some fantastic traits and consistent form. This was another display of what we've been seeing all season, with Oskar's pace and balance a feature, able to run with his head up, light on his feet ready to break in either direction to weave through traffic and find the right option. The wind made efficient disposal difficult, but Oskar for the most part navigated the difficult conditions well.

 

[noobermensch]

Xavier Taylor keeps producing solid performances as a mainstay in the back 50 for Eastern as they push deep into the finals. His consistency and versatility have seen him steadily move up draft boards all season to the point that some have him as a top 10 option now. A feature of his game is knowing when to run off his man to join in the attack or intercept the ball, and in this game we saw him impacting through the middle of the ground regularly, helping Eastern maintain territorial dominance.

 

[noobermensch]

An early look at a bottom ager who's become an important cog in the Ranges midfield machine through the second half of the season. Jordan Knapp is a balanced inside/outside midfielder, undersized but with some Jagga Smith like qualities in his ability to find the footy at stoppage and navigate traffic to extract it. He's excellent on the spread, has strong disposal skills to set up teammates and is capable of hitting the scoreboard himself.

 

[noobermensch]

In extremely wet conditions, Samson Jennings-Hopkins showed pace and class to impact the game in a number of pivotal moments that helped secure Claremont the victory. His committed attack on the ball in the air and the ground was well suited to the conditions, as was his second and third efforts given the slippery ball not being conducive to clean footy.

 

[noobermensch]

A strong game in a losing effort from Felix Kneipp. Kneipp is a super hard working and tough smaller midfielder who runs hard both ways and does some solid linking work on the spread. He hasn't been as prominent this year as was expected due to lingering injury issues, last year he showed an ability to do a run with role and could prove to have upside potential if he finds his way onto an AFL list in November.

 

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Ollie Greeves has hit a rare vein of form at the perfect time as he and his Ranges team continue to stomp their way through the Coates Talent League finals. Greeves was energetic and prolific from the opening bounce, although his work inside the stoppage wasn't quite as clean as he normally is and he was caught with the footy a couple of times. It was after half time when he took his game to another level, a move into the forward line prompting a 10 minute 4 goal blitz to turn what had been a relatively close game into a romp. His forward line heroics here were a continuation of a late season trend, demonstrating his positional versatility. Greeves work rate to present into space on the flanks and wings was a standout all game both as a forward and a mid, contributing to him taking 14 marks.

 

[noobermensch]

Another impactful game from Sullivan Robey, keeping up his incredible late push up to the pointy end of the draft. We saw the same pattern as last week, with Robey mostly playing forward in the first half, and then trading roles with Ollie Greeves in the second to play mostly through the midfield. The same traits were evident, with Robey's size and athleticism making his attack on contests difficult to handle, and his outside run leading to a number of damaging forward 50 entries for his team.

 

[noobermensch]

The season ended for the Power but the likely pick 1 Williem Duursma wasn't going to go down without a fight. He showed how much his midfield game has matured over the course of the season here, able to influence around stoppage and in contested situations. Some of his marking around the ground was truly elite. The one achilles heel for Willem throughout the year has been his kicking, and it reared its head again here with him struggling to hit up targets inside 50, coughing up turnovers on a number of occasions.

 

[noobermensch]

This was some seriously impressive stuff from Rory Wright. His positional move from midfield into defense has been one of the more underrated success stories in the back half of the season, his skill set seeming ideally suited to his new position and we saw every bit of it on display in this game. His raking left boot was able to do significant damage in space, he's a fantastic aerialist with fearless attack which he used to take a bunch of intercept marks including a couple of spectacular and brave marks running back with the flight of the ball. He's not the closest checking defender it's fair to say, but he showed in this game that he can be extremely disruptive and impactful when the ball is in his area with smothers and deflections.