AFL Draft 2020: Bolters who could shake up the draft order

An explosive midfielder likened to Dustin Marin and Christian Petracca has rocketed up the draft order. See all of this year’s biggest bolters.

Everyone loves a draft bolter, and this year there may be more unknown prospects coming with a rush than ever before.

Unlike previous seasons when future stars like Marcus Bontempelli and Tim Taranto staked their claims to recruiters as top prospects through irresistible finishes to their draft year, many Victorian prospects are attracting increased interest despite limited on-field exposure.

The disbanded NAB League season in Victoria — the competition that accounts for roughly 60 per cent of the draft class each year — means club recruiters have the unenviable task of predicting the potential of Victorian prospects without seeing their top-age season.

Watch talent spotters Jordan Pinto and Dan Batten rate this year’s biggest draft bolters in the video player above

For example, it has seen an X-Factor player like Sandringham forward/midfielder Archie Perkins improve his standing despite having no opportunity to show his wares besides two pre-season games and national combine testing.

Meanwhile, other players of promise have boosted their draft stocks through stellar combine testing results over the past month, proving they have been doing the work during the year while no one has been watching.

South Australian and Western Australian talents have more traditional draft bolters after completing full seasons, headlined by South Adelaide product Brayden Cook.

Archie Perkins (Sandringham Dragons/Vic Metro)

Forward/midfielder, 188cm, 79kg

Recruiters were served a tantalising entrée from Perkins across six NAB League games last year but were denied the opportunity to taste the main course in 2020. The exciting 189cm forward/midfield hybrid was expected to spend most of his top-age year at the coalface for the Dragons, where he was set to showcase his game-breaking traits with greater consistency. Despite the year off, his draft stocks have grown due to his frightening potential as a player in the Christian Petracca/Dustin Martin mould, entering top-ten calculations in the process — putting him in the frame for one of Essendon’s three first-round picks. His impressive results across the board at the combine underlined his athletic prowess, while his balanced yet mature personality off the field adds to his appeal.

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Matt Allison (Calder Cannons/Vic Metro)

Key forward, 194cm, 81kg

Big things were expected from Allison with another year of development, showing strong form in the Cannons’ pre-season matches after modest returns from his 10 NAB League games in 2019. Allison is a mobile key forward with good hands overhead who covers the ground well. He demonstrated his strong endurance with a time of 6:17 in the 2km time-trial (ranked seventh overall) while also recording 2:975sec in the 20m sprint. The dearth of key forwards outside those at the pointy end may see Allison plucked in the first half of the draft considering his potential.

Seamus Mitchell (Bendigo Pioneers/Vic Country)

Forward/defender, 181cm, 74kg

Mitchell was a late addition to the Pioneers program last season, but he made up for lost time in his five NAB League games. The Robinvale product slotted six goals from five matches with his electrifying speed, agility and versatility piquing the interest of AFL clubs. He displayed his pace and power with a blistering 2:88sec 20m sprint and a 91cm running vertical jump at the combine. Mitchell has been likened to Zac Williams by Pioneers coach Damian Trustlove — who worked with Williams in his previous role as development coach at GWS — and has been interviewed by every club in 2020.

Ryan Angwin (Gippsland Power/Vic Metro)

Defender/midfielder, 184cm, 72kg

Angwin is another prospect that clubs would have been eager to see this year, putting himself on the map with a promising finish for Gippsland in 2019. A skillful midfielder/defender who can win his own ball on the inside, Angwin went to another level over the pre-season as part of the Vic Country hub and put himself through his paces training with Port Adelaide wingman and fellow Foster native Xavier Duursma during the AFL shutdown. He displayed his excellent running capacity with a time of 6:12 in the 2km time-trial.

Brayden Cook has rocketed into draft calculations. Picture: Tom Huntley

Brayden Cook (South Adelaide/SA)

Forward/wing, 188cm, 74kg

After growing 7cm in the past 12 months, Cook has rocketed up draft boards after a number of eye-catching performances at under-18 level. The 18-year-old has real x-factor, can take a strong mark – as a forward target or behind the ball – and is dangerous around goal. Cook booted 26 majors in 13 games this season, before highlighting his elite speed and vertical leap further at the SA combine. Could the Crows go early on the local boy at pick 12? His rise has been so rapid, he might be off the board by the time their back-to-back picks in the 20s roll around.

Liam Kolar (Northern Knights/Vic Metro)

Utility, 195cm, 81kg

Kolar’s meteoric rise is as rapid as it is unprecedented. Dabbling in soccer and athletics previously, the athletic 195cm prospect only joined the Northern Knights program midway through last year – playing junior twos football in Melbourne’s north-eastern suburbs months earlier. Kolar played three games for the Knights to finish the season and showed signs of improvement during their pre-season matches in 2020, but it was at the combine where he put his name up in lights. The athletic utility clocked a 2:87sec 20m sprint (fourth-fastest nationally) and a 6:02 2km time-trial (third), highlighting his unique traits for a player his size. He is viewed as a prospect with great scope for improvement and versatility — given his inexperience and his ability to play anywhere on the ground — and could be taken as early as the second round.

Max Heath (Sandringham Dragons/Vic Metro)

Ruckman, 203cm, 94kg

There is no knowing how steep the rise of Heath could have been this year after rocketing from obscurity to become one of the most highly touted ruckmen in the draft pool. Heath took strong feedback on board over the off-season and came back as a competitive beast, starring in each of Sandringham’s practice games in the ruck and as a forward. Moving into Year 12 next year, Heath is a project ruckman with serious potential who has significant improvement left in him, but he does not have a great deal of runs on the board.

Harry Sharp (Greater Western Victoria Rebels/Vic Country)

Midfielder/defender, 182cm, 77kg

Clubs were well aware of Sharp’s running prowess before the combine but his mind-boggling 2km-time-trial time of 5:28 was a stern reminder of his remarkable aerobic base. The former steeplechase champion, who has combined athletics with his footy during his time at the Rebels, shattered Collingwood midfielder and former Rebels teammate Jay Rantall’s record by 22 seconds. However, Sharp is a footballer who can run, rather than the other way around, possessing a long kick and good decision-making skills on the wing and across half-back. He has blown clubs away in interviews by his professionalism and maturity, deriving from his elite background in athletics.

Caleb Poulter (Woodville-West Torrens/SA)

Midfielder, 192cm, 79kg

His rise may not have been as steep as Cook’s, but the resumption of the football in SA has allowed the 192cm Poulter, who boasts a penetrating left-foot, to enhance his draft standing. He was an outside player at under-16 level but Poulter has developed into one of the pool’s best all-round midfield prospects, combining his offensive weapons away from the contest with clean hands — in the air and on the ground — and a brilliant ability to move through traffic. And the longer the season went on, the more dominant he became at multiple levels — under-18s, All Schools Cup final and the SA All Stars game.

Caleb Poulter stars for Henley High School. Picture: Mark Brake

Dominic Bedendo (Murray Bushrangers/Vic Country)

Forward/defender, 188cm, 74kg

Bedendo’s exceptional combine results have sparked growing interest in the athletic swingman. He wowed recruiters with the highest vertical jump of any draft hopeful (99cm) across the country and backed it up with a sub-three-second 20m sprint. His feat came as no surprise to those who have watched him play, able to stand on top of heads in packs, where his fantastic contested marking comes to the fore. He has drawn comparison to Collingwood high-flyer Jeremy Howe and was set to play as an intercept defender in 2020, having played predominantly up forward for the Bushrangers last year.

Corey Preston (Eastern Ranges/Vic Metro)

Forward, 182cm, 77kg

Preston joined a rare club after testing at the national combine without playing a single NAB League game. A late developer, the dynamic 180cm forward had his 2019 campaign curtailed by glandular fever but has spoken to half a dozen clubs following an encouraging pre-season for Eastern. While Preston remains an unknown quantity with limited vision of him in action, his agility and overhead marking are among the exciting attributes in his trick bag.

Luke Pedlar (Glenelg/SA)

Midfielder/forward, 182cm, 80kg

The Prince Alfred College captain missed a lot of footy through injury this season but, on the back of a standout opening month in the under-18s and a brief stint for PAC, he’s still received plenty of interest. “He makes his teammates play harder and feel safer. He’s an animal who wins the ball through grunt, toughness and a want for physicality,” state coach Tony Bamford said last week. And that’s what clubs love about Pedlar, who wasn’t a part of the SA Academy Hub. But he also spreads well, breaks lines – most often after he’s broken a tackle – and is terrific around goal, booting six goals in his four SANFL under-18 appearances.

Malachy Carruthers (Sturt/SA)

Defender/utility, 185cm, 72kg

The running playmaker wasn’t part of the initial Academy intake either but he’s bolted right into draft calculations after standout year for Sturt. Carruthers starred in the opening four rounds of the under-18s before his college commitments at St Peter’s. When he returned, he was even better with his poise, class and ball-use on display throughout the Double Blues’ run to the grand final. Carruthers, who tallied 34 disposals, 15 marks, 11 intercepts, 10 score involvements and 169 ranking points in Round 14, not only reads the game better than most but he opens it up with his decision making.

Jacob Wehr in action in the SANFL. Picture: Sarah Reed

Jacob Wehr (Woodville-West Torrens/SA)

Defender, 184cm, 71kg

Last year, Wehr was only just holding his place in the Eagles’ reserves side. Fast-forward 12 months and the 22-year-old, following an outstanding season at senior level, is on the cusp of being drafted. He’s a sweet mover who possesses an elite left-foot kick — two eye-catching traits — and was one the Eagles’ better performers in a successful finals series. The line-breaker makes great decisions and, more importantly, executes them, hitting the long target as often as he finds the short one.

Isiah Winder (Peel Thunder/Western Australia)

180cm, 79kg

Forward/midfielder

Winder capped off a stellar top-age year for Peel Thunder at colts level — averaging 28 disposals, five clearances and five tackles — with freakish returns at the WA combine. He ran the fifth-fastest 20m sprint (2.873 seconds) and tested strongly for vertical jump and agility – features of his game that are there for all to see. The Indigenous speedster brings X-Factor through the middle and up forward and can make defenders look silly with his baulks and shimmies. He also held his own in three matches at WAFL senior level throughout the year and put in an impressive showing in the first WA All-Stars game in October.

Blake Coleman (Lions Academy/Allies)

180cm, 79kg

The Lions academy prospect, brother of 2019 Brisbane draftee Keidean Coleman, had a superb season in Morningside’s premiership winning season in the QAFL. He was among the best with two majors in the Grand Final and hauled in mark of the day with his great hands overhead. The small forward also slotted two goals in an eye-catching performance in the under-17 All Stars clash on AFL Grand Final day last year. Coleman has innate goal sense and good speed, making him extremely dangerous inside 50.

Originally published as AFL Draft 2020: Bolters who could shake up the draft order