AFL Draft 2023: North Melbourne NGA player Ryley Sanders on which team looks likely to select him
The Kangaroos have had their eyes locked on this hot prospect for years, but one problem stands in their way despite their big bounty of draft picks in the 2023 class.
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North Melbourne began showering Ryley Sanders with blue and white merchandise as a young teenager, but the Tasmanian had other colours that he preferred.
His father, Adam, had been involved in the AFL talent pathways on the Apple Isle, and when Gold Coast draftees Kade Kolodjashnij and Jesse Lonergan came home to visit they too would also give Sanders plenty of “free stuff”.
Unusually, Sanders therefore grew up a Suns supporter. He idolised former captain Gary Ablett Jnr as he dreamt of also becoming an AFL onballer.
But Sanders had long thought that career at the top level could start at the Kangaroos, with his Indigenous heritage making him eligible for the club’s Next Generation Academy.
“It’s on my nan’s side (Adam’s mum), from Flinders Island,” Sanders said of his roots.
“I always knew about it from when I was at 12 or 13.
“I’ve been talking to North since I was 13 or 14 and they’ve been really good, coming down home and giving me heaps of free North gear and advice.”
Sanders did not need to provide documentation of his Indigenous heritage to play for the Flying Boomerangs in 2019 – an AFL program for those with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander roots.
He featured in that team alongside the likes of Essendon twins Alwyn and Jayden Davey, Adelaide’s Isaac Keeler, St Kilda’s Jack Peris and fellow 2023 first-round draft prospect Lance Collard.
But as Sanders quickly emerged as a top-10 draft prospect coming into this year, the Kangaroos faced a battle to secure him.
Sanders applied for and received his certificate of Aboriginality in the middle of the year and, with that, was later approved as a North Melbourne Next Generation Academy prospect.
But under AFL rules the Kangaroos cannot match a bid from a rival club on Sanders within the first 40 picks in the national draft and special priority access to him was not included as part of an assistance package which was ticked off in September.
It means that Sanders enters the draft on the open market and looks likely to be snapped up by either Hawthorn (pick 4) or the Western Bulldogs (pick 5).
North Melbourne (picks 2 and 3) could select him before that, but the Kangaroos appear to be locked in on other targets.
“For a while there it was looking pretty likely that I was going to be part of that compensation,” Sanders said.
“You can still go there (North Melbourne) if they want to draft me, but there’s a lot of uncertainty and excitement to see where I’ll end up now.”
If it is the Hawks or Bulldogs, Sanders won’t be unhappy to stay in Melbourne.
He has been boarding at Melbourne Grammar for the past two years to finish his schooling and has featured in back-to-back premierships for the Sandringham Dragons in the Coates Talent League during that time.
That has not been the only success he has enjoyed, either.
Sanders was not only part of the winning Allies team in the under-18 national championships this year, but also won the Larke Medal at the best player of the tournament.
One recruiter described Sanders’ year as “bulletproof” and labelled him “as clean as a whistle”.
Allies coach Mark McVeigh said after the championships there we no shortage of AFL traits in the 185cm onballer who plays as a “traditional centreman”.
“He’s going to be one of those bigger midfielders,” McVeigh said.
“He’s just always there, he very rarely makes a mistake and is very clean by hand and foot. He looks a little bit like (Jason) Horne-Francis with his socks up and the haircut.”
Sanders recognises his looks might be similar to Horne-Francis, but he primarily models his game on two other players.
“I like Lachie Neale and Tom Green,” he said.
“I’m in the middle of them in height. I think they play a similar game style. They have clean hands and use their handballing to bring other players into the game, which is something I pride myself on as well.”
Growing up in Launceston, Sanders was also a promising junior basketball star who played at state level.
Basketball wanted him to choose to focus on the hoops, but the football programs were happy for him to continue juggling both before he eventually gave the court sport away.
“I still love basketball to this day,” Sanders said.
“I think basketball has been really good for just my composure and being able to make good decisions.
“But I’m glad I chose footy.”
Fans of either the Hawks or the Bulldogs could soon be very glad, too.
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