AFL Draft 2024: Draft Intel, latest news from around the country
There has been uproar in recent times over the dumping of skinfold testing and player weight availability, but in reality there hasn’t been as much change this year as some may think.
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Many of the top AFL draft prospects for 2024 will feature in another exhibition match this weekend — including the three players vying to be the No. 1 pick.
Plus, here’s the latest ahead of next month’s mid-season rookie draft, news on a gun Victorian key forward who is yet to feature this season due to a back injury and why skinfold testing of draft prospects was dumped years ago.
SKINFOLDS LONG GONE
The AFL insists no changes are being made to how it will physically test draft prospects this year amid confusion earlier in the week.
There were reports on Monday night suggesting that the league was dumping skinfold testing and would no longer be making the weights of draft prospects available.
Former Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd responded by saying, “The world’s gone mad”.
However, skinfold testing has been banned since the 2021 national draft and the weights of Coates Talent League players have not been made public over the past two seasons.
Only player heights are published on team sheets, with the AFL also moving towards that model for AFL-listed players this year.
Recruiting teams at clubs still have access to player weights, which are taken in a “safe and private setting”.
The league has pointed towards mental health concerns as the reason for stopping skinfolds and no longer publishing weights.
TOP PICK SET FOR RETURN
Potential No. 1 draft pick Finn O’Sullivan will return to the field for the AFL Academy side this weekend after missing the squad’s first match with a fractured thumb.
The Oakleigh Chargers product — who is a second cousin of Carlton star Sam Walsh — has been named as one of five inclusions for the side’s second exhibition match against Footscray on Saturday.
An explosive ball-winning midfielder, O’Sullivan played for his school side Xavier College last weekend in his first game since suffering the thumb injury in round 1 of the Coates Talent League.
Recruiters have him pegged as a No. 1 pick contender this year, alongside big-bodied Eastern Ranges onballer Josh Smillie and Brisbane Lions father-son prospect Levi Ashcroft.
West Australian prospects Malakai Champion and Bo Allan have also been named to return from injury for the AFL Academy side after missing the first match against Coburg a fortnight ago, along with Victorian trio Archer Day-Wicks, Xavier Lindsay and Sam Lalor.
Lalor booted seven goals for his school team Geelong Grammar in a dominant display last weekend, that performance coming in his first game back since overcoming early-season hip and groin issues.
Taj Hotton, Jordan Nguyen, Tobie Travaglia and Jack Whitlock won’t feature against Footscray, after being injury replacement players for the AFL Academy against Coburg.
However, 197cm Murray Bushrangers key defender Matt Whitlock has been called up for the match after making an impressive start to the season.
The match will be played at Whitten Oval from 11am on Saturday.
HUTCHINSON FLYING HIGH
A “surfer-come-footballer” with an extraordinary leap is attracting plenty of attention from clubs ahead of the AFL mid-season rookie draft.
Collingwood VFL forward Jack Hutchinson again produced a nice highlights reel last weekend, headlined by a stunning pack mark in the second quarter against Coburg.
Recruiters say the 22-year-old has “popped up from obscurity” this year, after being convinced by former Collingwood forward Jarryd Blair to test himself at VFL level.
Hutchinson spent the past two years being coached by Blair at Wonthaggi Power in the Gippsland League, before eventually making the decision to move to Melbourne this year and give the VFL a go.
A high-marking lead-up forward, he has kicked two goals in each of his past three VFL games for the Magpies.
Collingwood VFL coach Josh Fraser has labelled Hutchinson as a player with “huge upside” who has “got AFL attributes “.
Wonthaggi Power football director and assistant coach Stuart Gilmour told this column that Hutchinson had always had other priorities than football.
He declined to go down the traditional football pathways as a teenager but is now fully invested as he looks to grab his opportunity with both hands.
“He didn’t do the Coates League. He didn’t do much representative footy at all,” Gilmour said.
“Jack was a surfer-come-footballer rather than a footballer-come-surfer.
“Halfway through last year when Jack had really got some form and was starting to cover some ground and reach for the footy a bit more, we all thought there’s an opportunity here for Jack if he wanted to. He sort of didn’t really say yes to it, to be honest, at the start. He felt his way through it.”
Known to teammates at Wonthaggi simply as ‘Hutchy’, the carpenter possesses some “natural ability” that other players don’t but also gives great effort on the field.
“His marking is a key strength. He marks from a long way back and obviously gets them high, which the cameras get a hold of,” Gilmour said.
“But Jack’s work rate and the ground that he covers, that will probably be his next ticket, I’d suggest. His preparation is really good, but he’s just got a natural fitness level and he covers a lot of ground which is something I’m sure recruiters are looking at.”
OTHER MID-SEASON DRAFT PROSPECTS EMERGE
While clubs say that mid-season draft prospects are “not popping up like mushrooms” this year, a number of players are putting their hands up to be considered.
The first game of the Young Guns series was played against Vic Metro last Sunday, with Geelong VFL midfielder Tobyn Murray topping the stats sheet with 24 disposals, five clearances and a goal.
Essendon VFL forward Oskar Smartt also caught the eye with 12 disposals, four marks and 3.2 in attack, while Dandenong Stingrays defender Ben Hopkins is attracting some AFL interest after racking up 23 disposals, three marks and three rebound 50s.
Mid-sized Geelong Falcons forward Will McLachlan only managed one behind from eight disposals for the Young Guns last weekend, but has impressed scouts this year after booting 13 goals from three games in the Coates Talent League.
Tasmanian Devils defender-turned-forward Geordie Payne is another player being discussed in recruiting circles and he kicked 2.3 from nine disposals for the Young Guns.
The Young Guns will play a second game against Vic Country at Craigieburn’s Highgate Recreation Reserve from 11am on Sunday.
This year’s mid-season draft will be held on May 29.
WHICH CLUBS HAVE MID-SEASON PICKS?
At least 11 clubs will have the option of making selections in next month’s mid-season rookie draft.
While Fremantle and Gold Coast were the only clubs who entered the season with vacant list spots, at least nine other clubs can open up spots due to season-ending injuries or retirements.
Other clubs can still open up spots if they suffer season-ending injuries in coming weeks.
There were 13 players picked in the 2023 mid-season draft, headlined by Ryan Maric joining West Coast at the No. 1 selection.
FAULL HOPES TO BOUNCE BACK
Exciting key forward Jonty Faull is still working his way back to fitness as he battles bone stress in his lower back.
The Greater Western Victoria Rebels product has targeted a mid-season return in June after back issues flared up in December and ruined his preparation for the 2024 season.
A member of the AFL Academy, the 195cm Faull had kicked two goals in the under-17 Futures game last September and trained with Geelong in December before the problems popped up.
“It’s disappointing and frustrating but I can’t do much about it,” Faull said last month.
“It is what it is. I’ve just got to try and rehab it and do all the right things.”
Faull, who attends Ballarat Grammar, has a background in rowing and competed for his school at the 2023 Australian Rowing Championships in Perth last March.
His team won a bronze medal in the Schoolboy’s Coxed Quadruple Scull event.
“I love rowing so much,” Faull said.
“I had to give it up this last season, but I did it for about three or four years and I loved every minute of it. It’s such a tough sport, but it’s so rewarding as well.”
Faull is a Carlton supporter, with his uncle — Nick Faull — having been drafted to the Blues in the 1990 national draft.
A strong overhead mark who reads the play well, the 18-year-old looks up to two-time Coleman Medal winner who wears the navy blue.
“A bit Charlie Curnow, obviously going for Carlton, but I don’t feel like I model it off one specific player,” Faull said when asked who he modelled his game on.
“I try and get the good bits from each player and try and use that in my game.”
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