Resource Noob's 2025 Draft Prospect Video Thread

[noobermensch]

Another excellent performance from Sweid this week as he continues to get Essendon supporters excited. His contested work was a feature this week, he might not be the tallest on the park, but he packs some power and physicality in his frame. We also got to see him rotating onto a forward flank, a position he played through the entirety of the 4th quarter with the Cannons well on top.

 

[noobermensch]

Rory Wright is another to have emerged early in the season to put himself firmly in the draft frame. A nice balance of inside and outside to his game, especially damaging when he can find space on the outside to slice up the opposition with his lazer left boot. If the Dragons are to continue their run and add a fourth straight title, then Rory will be an important part of their run.

 

[noobermensch]

A request from Futbolista who spotted Max on the weekend and was excited by what he saw. Max is a nice size for a medium defender and combined with his athletic traits it should allow him to defend multiple different types. He attacks the contest hard, and in this game showed an ability to take intercept marks with clean hands along with a penetrating kick.

This will be my only video for the day, I managed to get gastro yesterday and I'm going back to bed.

 

[noobermensch]

Greeves was one of the standout performers for the AFL Academy, managing the step up to playing against VFL opposition in style. His powerful stoppage game was just as effective against the bigger bodies of the Tigers players, and he showed an improved desire for applying defensive pressure, although his disposal let him down again at times here. He had a fun personal duel in the first half against his Eastern teammate of last year in Josh Smillie with the two of them bashing into each other whenever the opportunity allowed.

 

[noobermensch]

Fred didn't get to play on ball as often as some others, spending a lot of time on a forward flank or wing, which limited his opportunity at times, but on a day when clean skills and disposal efficiency was at a premium, he showed the class that gives him a point of difference in this draft pool.

 

[noobermensch]

At times it felt like the Academy were fielding a forward line with nothing but tall forwards and no structure to speak of, so every high ball saw three or four blue academy shirts flying through the air and spoiling each other. Archie had the best of it from that tall contingent, taking a couple of nice grabs and making the most of his opportunities to boot three for the game.

 

[noobermensch]

Sharp seemed to lack intensity in this game and didn't attack the contest in the style that we're used to seeing from him. He did apply strong tackling pressure at stoppage, and while his disposal skills were a bit off, he managed to lace out one lovely pass to a leading forward in the second quarter.

 

[noobermensch]

A comfortable winner of the best on ground award for the AFL Academy, Annable showcased all the elements of his game on the weekend. He was strong and tough in the clinches, but it was his work rate to run forward of the ball and create options for his teammates which created headaches for Richmond all game and led to Annable creating scoring opportunities for himself and his team.

 

[noobermensch]

For three quarters of this game Mitch Stevens looked like a solid rangy wingman with endurance and nice skills who enjoyed cracking in with a tackle from time to time. In the fourth quarter he was moved onball and immediately produced a few clearances with quick and clean hands and an ability to gather and burst clear of stoppage, which showed a tantalizing glimpse of what could be significant upside.

One to watch for Crows fans over the course of the season.

 

[noobermensch]

A solid performance from Lindsay who returned to his customary half back role and looked assured even with the step up against more mature opposition. He was strong in aerial contests and for the most part composed with the ball, although he did misjudge a couple of kicks in the windy conditions.

 

[noobermensch]

This could and probably should have been an amazing, match winning performance from Huss who looked super dangerous every time the ball went into the Cannons forward line. Unfortunately, he only managed to kick 3 goals 5 behinds, including 2 out on the full, most of them from very gettable opportunities.

 

[noobermensch]

Another of the early movers in 2025, Grlj has been making the most of his opportunity playing onball for Oakleigh to maximise some of the traits we saw last season. His pace is electric, and he uses it to quickly close down opponents or break lines with the ball, one mazy run in particular which saw him sidestepping opponents and leaving them in his wake was very reminiscent of last season's Chargers number 5. In this game he barely put a foot wrong with ball in hand, his skills neat and precise. Hopefully he can up his disposal count as the season progresses by developing his stoppage work and finding more uncontested footy on the spread.

 

[noobermensch]

The first of the mid season draft prospects to be covered on the channel this year, Tom Evans had an absolutely immense performance on the weekend for the Pioneers to put himself firmly into the MSD frame. He showed prospective AFL teams what he would bring, which is a prolific rebounding small defender with dash and excellent kicking skills paired with attacking, fearless decision making.

 

[noobermensch]

Freo fans have to get excited by this performance from their NGA prospect Toby Whan. The big and powerful Whan did a bit of everything on the day, flying through the air to take a mark of the year contender, booting goals, lacing out teammates with his raking left foot, and bulldozing his way through contests. Whan might be flying under the radar at the moment with a lot of draft watchers, but the upcoming Champs might be where he forces everyone to sit up and take notice.

 

[noobermensch]

There's been some early hype around Collingwood NGA Zac McCarthy leading to a number of requests for him on the channel. A big guy who moves extremely well for his size and shows nice skills and poise with the footy, Zac has mostly played ruck for Oakleigh in his two games this season but at 198cm will probably need to show that can impact more as a forward to push himself right up the draft order.

 

[noobermensch]

Another NGA for pies fans to get hyped about, Jai Saxena kicked 5 of the Chargers 9 goals on the day. He showed clean hands and used a low center of gravity to twist and turn his way out of trouble along with the creativity and skill execution to pull of some brilliant snaps at goal. He also showed pace to hit up on the lead and the ability to get involved in the pay further up the ground.

 

[noobermensch]

One of the best individual performances of the season came from Tom McGuane this week who was duly named player of the week by RMC. In a team that was handily beaten on the day, Tom often seemed to be playing a lone hand as he found an absolute stack of the ball, winning clearances, gut running to present on the spread and driving his team forward with his long left boot.

 

[noobermensch]

Rory continued his excellent start to the season with another strong performance here to help his Dragons to victory. He continues to split his time between midfield and wing and seems proficient at either role, although his game definitely leans more outside at this stage where he can use his athleticism and elite left boot in space to break lines and lace out inside 50 targets.

 

[noobermensch]

A return to the WAFL Colts this week allowed Fred to get back to his dominant best. He has the most balanced inside/outside game of all the midfielders in this crop, able to drive his team forward from stoppage, as shown by his 9 clearances here, and then punish on the outside with his creativity and skills by hand and foot.

Its been pointed out the player number is wrong in the graphic. Fred is wearing number 7 here, sorry about that!

 

[noobermensch]

Another from the weekend to drop down from the seniors to dominate the junior grade and remind everyone of his quality. Sharp had a massive game here, racking up 19 disposals in the first half before sitting out significant portions of the second including most of the fourth quarter. He's not going to blow anyone away with his athleticism and pace, but this was a reminder of just how dominant he can be as a force at stoppage and contest. His footwork and body control through contact is a class above, allowing him to twist and turn through congestion and tight spaces while maintaining his composure with the ball, and his spacial awareness lets him find and release teammates with creative hands.

 

[noobermensch]

First game back from a delayed start to season 2025, Luke Hallett was clearly lacking match fitness and will have games where he finds more of the footy. Having said that, he was still extremely impressive showing moments of elite quality and AFL level traits that will have recruiters salivating over his potential. He has a powerful frame which allows him to absorb contact and maintain body control to dish off a disposal or lay a punishing tackle of his own. His kicking skills are sublime, seemingly able to clear 60 meters without needing to overly exert himself and accurately spot up teammates at short and medium range. Like many of the best players Hallett seems to play with a confidence bordering on arrogance.

 

[noobermensch]

This was another donation request via buymeacoffee from Mitch Stevens biggest fan. Donation requests get priority.

While his disposal count was a little lower this week, Mitch had his fingerprints all over this win. He had a bunch of actions that led to goals for his team including two nice setup kicks and defensive spoil. He played for the majority of the game onball and his defensive pressure was a standout feature.

 

[noobermensch]

Jack was certainly cooking in this one. This is possibly the longest single game edit that I've ever done as Cook was involved in everything, racking up disposals all over the ground and applying immense defensive pressure from his position as the sweeper on the back side of stoppage. Jack is as hard working, brave and tough as anyone you'll find at this level, and it'll be an interesting watch to see how far those admirable qualities can take him this year.

 

[noobermensch]

We watched something pretty special in the first half of this game as Freo NGA Ryda Luke managed to kick and incredible 8 goals from 8 kicks, doing it in a variety of ways. He completely disappeared in the second half, but his first half heroics will certainly give everyone a story to remember.

 

[noobermensch]

Cody Templeton is shaping up to be of the elite talents for the 2026 draft class and is already producing fantastic performances as a bottom ager. Here we see him demonstrating how dangerous he can be around goals, slotting 5 majors in difficult conditions with the wind making skill execution difficult.