AFL Draft: Academy players overlooked as St Kilda does not select any of its three linked prospects

The same club which has led a crusade against other clubs rorting the father-son and academy system overlooked three talents tied to them.

The bidding story from the first night of the AFL Draft was clubs overlooking Brisbane father-son Levi Ashcroft as he slid to pick five.

On night two, it was clubs overlooking their academy-linked players.

Melbourne, GWS, St Kilda and Sydney all let opposition sides pounce on their academy prospects.

First it was Collingwood bidding on Swans Academy key defender Joel Cochran, who won the 2km time trial at the combine, at pick 47.

Two picks later Gold Coast took tall back Cooper Bell from the Giants Academy.

Then it was Melbourne Next Generation Academy product Riak Andrew, the brother of Gold Coast sensation Mac, who was allowed to walk to Sydney at 55, with the Swans strongly linked to him the lead-up.

St Kilda passing up on NGA defensive duo Lenny Hofmann and Adrian Cole along with father-son Elwood Peckett – the latter two who both slid through to the rookie draft – is the most controversial given Saints president Andrew Bassat’s vocal views on academies and father-sons.

Adrian Cole runs the 2km time trial at the draft combine. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Hofmann, a 190cm defender, headed to the Cats after they made a successfully bid on him at pick 66, while Cole didn’t receive a bid at all. St Kilda hadn’t given guarantees to any of the three in the lead-up, and Hofmann had been viewed as the favourite to join the Saints.

The club could have pre-listed key defender Cole, a key defender, as a Category B rookie and midfielder-forward Peckett, the son of 255-gamer Justin, as a rookie.

While other clubs declared their hand with their Category B listings like Melbourne (Ricky Mentha), Essendon (Jayden Nguyen), Port Adelaide (Benny Barrett) and GWS (Josaia Delana) on Thursday, St Kilda instead wished Cole and Elwood Peckett, a medium forward-midfielder, all the best for the rookie draft.

STK president Andrew Bassat has used the B&F to again tee off on the AFL’s draft system.

“The system is designed to favour the wealthier clubs and the northern clubs and our role is meant to be to just make up the numbers and not to complain about it… the system is nonsense.” pic.twitter.com/jvkC6OaVbn

— Mitch Cleary (@cleary_mitch) September 30, 2024

Both were left undrafted.

Those close to Cole felt it was unlikely he would become a Saint on Friday, while Peckett’s camp had been told that things would have to go his way, but the messaging had been unclear.

None of these three players are standout top 30 selections, but adding Cole and Peckett as free hits – Cole a Category B rookie and Peckett a father-son rookie – looked like no-brainers.

Especially for the Saints who have had just three father-son draftees since the rule was introduced.

Instead, the Saints chose to add promising Gaelic prospect Eamonn Armstrong at a Category B rookie.

There is a sense of irony in it all.

The Saints have let three club-tied players through to the keeper when their president has led a crusade against other sides benefitting from father-son and academy selections — albeit those at the pointy-end.

Elwood Peckett in action for the Stingrays. Picture: Rob Lawson/AFL Photos

But Bassat doesn’t pick the players, and clearly the Saints didn’t rate Hofmann and Cole enough.

They selected Bendigo Pioneers swingman James Barrat – who stands 194cm tall and played his best footy in defence this year – at pick 32, having already taken 193cm intercept king Alix Tauru on night one.

Geelong recruiting boss Stephen Wells made an unsuccessful bid on Lions Academy key forward Ty Gallop and Carlton father-son Ben Camporeale with consecutive picks, but sensed that it might be third time lucky for them with Hofmann.

“We probably noticed once they picked some similar sort of talent to Lenny earlier in the draft that it was a chance he would get through to us,” Well said.

The Saints had announced an agreement with Sandringham VFL last year to, “Use one of (their) rookie list places to draft a Sandringham player”, starting from 2024. But the only player they added in the rookie draft was delisted veteran Brad Crouch.

Meanwhile, the Demons didn’t just pass on Andrew this year, they did the same in his draft year of 2023.

The South Sudanese stopper then returned to the Dandenong Stingrays, where he emerged as one of the toughest key defensive match-ups in the Coates Talent League.

Andrew was also on the radar for the Swans ahead of this year’s mid-season draft.

It came three years after his brother Mac Andrew was infamously plucked out of Melbourne’s grasp by Gold Coast in the 2021 national draft when clubs were unable to match NGA bids inside the top 20 selections.

As Keane made clear, they are two different players – Mac is eight centimetres taller than Riak – but Riak’s rate of development this year was similar to that of Mac as a junior.

Riak Andrew is now a Swan. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Blair Jackson

“The most important thing for us is we saw that rate of development with Riak,” Keane said.

“I think when you can see that from where he started, to where he was at mid-year – when we were interested in mid-season potentially – and to where he ended up at the end of the year, we were comfortable with that rate of progression and that was a really good sign for us.”

Keane conceded the decision to let Cochran head to Collingwood was “tricky”.

But above all, Keane and Melbourne recruiting manager Jason Taylor were pleased that the two key backs were able to find homes and that their programs were producing AFL talent.

“It has been noticeable his improvement and for him to get an opportunity with Sydney, it is terrific. We just went in a different position tonight,” Taylor said.

“It is not only about your own program, it is about building more talent for the AFL and we are really happy with the way Riak’s improved.”