2025 Draft Watch

[Willow18]

I also understand I’m throwing out these ideas where all I really want is for us to use our first on Wilkie

[Willow18]

Completely wild suggestion, but wonder if there’s a deal to do with North Melbourne. Move back to their back to back 2nd rounders and grab Barker (would be top 15 if not for his ACL), best winger in the draft and Thredgold, best KPD after Taylor/Dean. Both teammates at Sturt who won the U18’s in the SANFL

[Stevo]

Darcy has the feels of 'being hidden' - school footy he was apparently impressive but played very little Coates League and no rep footy. He's the kind of kid that gets a bid because he looks like a classy footballer. There's a lot of untapped unspide there, and if Twomey thinks a bid will come around 30, then it suggests clubs really rate his attributes, even if they haven't seem them at the highest level

I'm not expert on this like a former contributor BT was but it might be that the club thinks any compensation for Khamis would help cover an earlier bid on Darcy. We might need to throw in a really late pick to top it off.
My guess is that we only pick up one player early in the draft and then position ourselves to match bids on Darcy.

[The_Bont]

Darcy has the feels of 'being hidden' - school footy he was apparently impressive but played very little Coates League and no rep footy. He's the kind of kid that gets a bid because he looks like a classy footballer. There's a lot of untapped unspide there, and if Twomey thinks a bid will come around 30, then it suggests clubs really rate his attributes, even if they haven't seem them at the highest level

[GVGjr]

Interesting Will Darcy doesn't make that top 50 averaged list, but Twomey said the other day he expects a bid in the 30s for him. What I've read about his season just does not warrant such a high pick - I wonder how we are rating him internally, and whether we have a cut off point for matching a bid?

I don't think we've ever elected not to match a bid?

On displayed form he would never be considered but enough teams nominated him so he got a Draft Combine invitation.
It just takes one or two sides to be interested in investing a pick for the longer term view.

[jazzadogs]

Interesting Will Darcy doesn't make that top 50 averaged list, but Twomey said the other day he expects a bid in the 30s for him. What I've read about his season just does not warrant such a high pick - I wonder how we are rating him internally, and whether we have a cut off point for matching a bid?

I don't think we've ever elected not to match a bid?

[The_Bont]

Grlj would be amazing. I've been huge on Dovaston all year but I think I'd be even happier if Grlj slipped.
Genuine burst mid, high impact player. Could probably start his career off the HB like Griffen/Freijah as you want him receiving the ball, not winning it.

Grjl's kicking sounds like it might be a concern. And with Brisbane's smalls going to work yesterday, it highlights how valuable a player like Dovaston could be. I think he'll rush up boards as we get closer to the draft

[Willow18]

It’s obviously not the strongest of drafts, and I’d be more than happy to trade our 1st away for a player. But the type of players available really fit our needs and I’d love to walk away with 2 first rounders if the club rated them High enough

[Mofra]

I’ve seen Tigers pumping up Cumming & Grlj at their picks and one of them could still somehow fall to us

Grlj would be amazing. I've been huge on Dovaston all year but I think I'd be even happier if Grlj slipped.
Genuine burst mid, high impact player. Could probably start his career off the HB like Griffen/Freijah as you want him receiving the ball, not winning it.

[Willow18]

Really cool little table that! Shows how even this draft is in that middle part of the 1st round. I’d imagine that Robey number comes in once whoever had him at 28 readjusts.

Duursma & the bids are the only ones who we know confidently don’t get past the top 10.

sharp & CDT look clear of the rest but for different reasons could fall a bit. Robey & Taylor probably round out that group that goes top 5-6 outside the bids.

I think every other prospect has a legitimate chance to fall to our pick (some more likely than others)

I’ve seen Tigers pumping up Cumming & Grlj at their picks and one of them could still somehow fall to us

[Bulldogs201616]

This was posted on the bigfooty Phantom draft page by an Essendon called Yoda that I thought would be interesting to post here.



"Bit of ranking update, from some of the best minds in the draft space. Our own eDPS, Haggas, Smythe, ESPN, Cal Twomey, Craft of the Draft and the new Reading the Play which is a breath of fresh air and somewhat against the norm."

Pick Average;
the ranking total divided by the amount of selections
eg. Duursma was selected 8 times, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4 = 13
13 draft points divided by amount of sections (8 rankings used)
13 / 8 =1.625 1.625

High Pick
self explanatory really. The highest they were taken. Gives an idea of how widely viewed some players were.

Low Pick
Opposite to the 'high pick', good to see how low some rated these players.

The players listed below are sorted on this metric. All players were viewed in two rankings across the 8. Some of these selections are skewed by being out of date (ie. Craft of the Draft still had Sullivan Robey at 28, the last update from them was 3 weeks ago)

Also gives a reasonable enough view of where the groups sit

Ranking	Name	Pick Average	High Pick	Low Pick
1	Willem Duursma	1.625	1	4
2	Zeke Uwland	2.25	2	3
3	Daniel Annable	4	2	5
4	Dyson Sharp	5	1	9
5	Cooper Duff - Tytler	5.125	3	7
6	Dylan Patterson	5.5	4	10
7	Sam Cumming	8.25	6	15
8	Oliver Greaves	9.75	7	16
9	Harry Dean	10.125	6	15
10	Sullivan Robey	10.75	4	28
11	Xavier Taylor	11	7	14
12	Sam Grjl	11.5	5	15
13	Josh Lindsay	12.5	10	17
14	Aiden Schubert	12.875	9	18
15	Mitch Marsh	14.25	11	18
16	Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves	14.625	9	25
17	Jacob Farrow	15.5	12	17
18	Lachy Dovaston	17.375	15	22
19	Jeevan Phillipou	18.5	12	24
20	Adam Sweid	22	20	32
21	Max King	22.5	20	25
22	Cameron Nairm	23.375	24	47
23	Harley Barker	23.5	18	27
24	Archie Ludowyke	23.75	21	31
25	Oskar Taylor	24.25	16	34
26	Lachlan Carmichael	24.4	20	29
27	Beau Addinsal	26.25	24	32
28	Louie Emmet	27	23	32
29	Matt Leray	28.5	22	34
30	Zac McCarthy	30.166	24	36
31	Fred Rodriguez	30.5	23	39
32	Sam Swaddling	32	19	48
33	Blake Oudshorn-Benier	32.166	23	43
34	Jack Dalton	32.857	14	41
35	Hussein El-Achkar	33	28	42
36	Kye Fincher	34.166	27	41
37	Max Kondogiannis	35.333	30	39
38	Toby Whan	36	31	49
39	Talor Byrne	36.166	32	40
40	Thomas Burton	36.25	29	40
41	Riley Onley	36.5	30	48
42	Jack Ison	38	25	46
43	Jesse Mellor	38.166	34	42
44	Koby Koulson	38.333	35	42
45	Hugo Mikunda	38.5	32	45
46	Thomas McGuane	40.5	37	44
47	Liam Hetherton	42.25	38	48
48	Noah Chamberlain	47	45	49
49	Cody Curtain	47.5	46	49

[The_Bont]

Yeah, I reckon Wright will be good value wherever he gets picked up. Just has that feel of being a well rounded and powerful footballer that makes a career of it.

These guys released their top ten today with a phantom draft scheduled for midweek:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2025/09/28/2025-draft-power-rankings-1-10/

[GVGjr]

There's a guy on Twitter (Ed Pascoe) who was with Rookie Me Central but now scouts for one of the Coates League clubs. And there's stracks of small timers with varying degrees of 'knowledge' on big footy.

I like this Reading the Play website because their profiles are long form write ups.

Personally, I'd like one of Farrow, Barker or Phillipou with our first. I think they're all good sized and athletic, with huge upside. Then with our second it's hard - I don't know who's likely to be avaible but based on the rankings available online I'd like Rory Wright or Fred Rodriguez. Skillful and strong footballers than are seen maybe outside the first round

If we trade our first pick then the draft becomes a scramble for those mid pick players who slide down the order.
I really like your Rory Wright suggestion who's tough, skillful and versatile.

[The_Bont]

Thank you for the updates. Are there any other "less known" sites you can recommend for draft coverage?
And by the way, who would you think are good targets for 1str and 2nd selections?

There's a guy on Twitter (Ed Pascoe) who was with Rookie Me Central but now scouts for one of the Coates League clubs. And there's stracks of small timers with varying degrees of 'knowledge' on big footy.

I like this Reading the Play website because their profiles are long form write ups.

Personally, I'd like one of Farrow, Barker or Phillipou with our first. I think they're all good sized and athletic, with huge upside. Then with our second it's hard - I don't know who's likely to be avaible but based on the rankings available online I'd like Rory Wright or Fred Rodriguez. Skillful and strong footballers than are seen maybe outside the first round

[jazzadogs]

Was Levi West eligible for the young guns game today? Was he not picked because he's not seen as a top 40 prospect for next year, or was there something else in the eligibility?