Draft Intel: All the latest news from around Australia ahead of Wednesday’s 2024 AFL Draft
The AFL Draft is less than a week away, and an important piece of the top five puzzle looks to be solved. Plus, the latest on St Kilda’s father-sons and all the latest intel.
Draft news
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There’s less than a week until the next generation of AFL stars enter the league via the draft.
Catch up on all the latest intel here.
JAGGA FIRMING AS A TOP-FIVE LOCK
Highly-rated Victorian midfielder Jagga Smith is looking increasingly certain to be a top-five draft pick next Wednesday, with Harvey Langford shaping as a potential slider to St Kilda’s first selection.
Smith is believed to have strong interest from Carlton (pick 3), Adelaide (pick 4) and Melbourne (pick 5) and is no longer expected to get past the Demons.
Richmond is still favoured to select Sam Lalor at pick 1 but has also weighed up Finn O’Sullivan.
With North Melbourne eyeing Alix Tauru at pick 2, Carlton looks set to have a choice between O’Sullivan, Sid Draper and Smith.
The Blues have long been favoured to take O’Sullivan, but are also big fans of Draper and Smith — two other players who would fit their needs nicely.
Draper, Smith and Langford have all been linked to Adelaide at pick 4, while Smith and Langford look the most likely options for Melbourne at pick 5.
The Tigers are widely tipped to use pick 6 on Josh Smillie, while Brisbane Lions father-son prospect Levi Ashcroft is expected to attract a top-five bid.
DRAGON ‘DEFINITELY’ KEEN FOR INTERSTATE MOVE
Sandringham Dragons midfielder Murphy Reid says he is “definitely” willing to move interstate to chase his AFL dream.
The classy ball-winner has been one of the top performing prospects across the year, named in the U18 All Australian side after averaging 25 disposals and a goal per game for Vic Metro.
But he could be a potential first-round draft slider with clubs questioning his defensive game, speed and whether he can become a midfielder at the next level.
It is also understood some interstate clubs are unsure whether he is best suited to a move interstate.
However, Reid has reassured clubs outside Victoria he is keen to play anywhere.
“I am pretty lucky. I have family and friends that support me and know what journey I am on, so they are all in my corner to do what it takes and I’ve had those conversations with clubs,” Reid said.
“I am very excited for the opportunity to go wherever it takes, that club is obviously putting their time and resources to pick me, so we’ll do whatever it takes to make it work out and get the best out of myself to help them succeed.”
Reid, who models his game on Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury and Dragons product Harry Sheezel, is hoping he is rewarded for his strong season on draft night.
“Definitely want to be taken as high as possible. Hopefully feel like I have done enough to do so now, sort of at the pointy end now,” Reid said.
“Obviously grateful for the opportunity I have put myself in but wherever it takes I am keen to get started. Very keen for everything’s that’s to come.”
PUTTING KOROIT ON THE MAP
No. 1 draft pick Harley Reid put the small Victorian country town of Tongala on the map last year.
Top-five prospect Finn O’Sullivan is hoping he can do the same with Koroit this year.
Sitting just outside of Warnambool in western Victoria, the 2021 Census listed Koroit’s population at 2,184.
“I wouldn’t say I know everyone, but I’ve grown up there my whole life,” O’Sullivan said.
“My closest mates still live in Koroit. It’s something that’s definitely close to my heart.”
O’Sullivan moved to Melbourne to board at Xavier College three years ago, but still gets home to visit whenever he can.
He lists a senior debut for Koroit in 2022 as perhaps his fondest football memory, playing alongside older brothers Jack and Paddy while still just 16 years old.
“That was definitely a special game,” O’Sullivan said.
“My brothers made sure they’d protect me, but they knew I could keep my own. It was just such a fun game. We got the win, too, so that was great.
“It’s great when I go back to the club. Everyone’s asking me about how everything’s going up here (in Melbourne), which is cool because it only shows that they care and they want me to do the best I can. I can’t thank them enough.”
The O’Sullivan family home back in Koroit is a short five or 10-minute drive to the beach, which O’Sullivan was a frequent visitor to.
However, getting anywhere else for representative football or basketball sides growing up meant a long time in the car with mum or dad.
“It’s never in between nothing and 60 minutes. It’s always hours,” O’Sullivan said of the car trips.
“It was every weekend and probably and a couple of nights a week. But saying that, I really enjoyed it. I had a couple of good mates with me every time, so that was great.”
A second cousin of Carlton star Sam Walsh, O’Sullivan has been strongly linked to Carlton at pick 3 in the draft, as well as Adelaide and Melbourne which hold the following two picks.
He is also believed to be in the mix at pick 1 for Richmond, but the Tigers are favoured to select Sam Lalor.
TOP PROSPECTS ATTENDING DRAFT NIGHT
The AFL has invited 20 players to the first night of the draft next Wednesday, where as many as 27 dreams are set to be achieved.
After early father-son and Academy bids, the first round of this year’s draft is expected to blow out to 27 selections.
Of the invitees, 17 have played their footy in Victoria this year.
South Australian Sid Draper, West Australian Bo Allan and Queenslander Leo Lombard are the three interstate players to be invited.
The players invited to attend the draft at Marvel Stadium are: Levi Ashcroft, Finn O’Sullivan, Harvey Langford, Sam Lalor, Jagga Smith, Sid Draper, Josh Smillie, Murphy Reid, Alix Tauru, Harry Armstrong, Tobie Travaglia, Bo Allan, Leo Lombard, Isaac Kako, Xavier Lindsay, Joe Berry, Jack Whitlock, Matt Whitlock, Jobe Shanahan and Sam Marshall.
HOTTON A HOT PROSPECT DESPITE INJURY
Victorian midfielder-forward Taj Hotton looks certain to be a first-round draft selection next Wednesday, despite an ACL injury wiping out most of his top-age season.
Hotton went down with the injury at training in May, after an eye-catching start to the season had him pegged as a top-10 prospect.
“It didn’t feel very good, so I knew something was wrong,” Hotton said.
“I got the MRI the next day and the results came back pretty quickly that I’d ruptured it (the ACL).”
The Sandringham Dragons product had been a standout during pre-season testing of Coates Talent League players in March, finishing sixth in the agility test, seventh in the 20m sprint and ninth in the running vertical jump.
Hotton then put those traits — and more — on show in the early rounds of the season.
He averaged 28.7 disposals, 7.3 marks, 9.0 score involvements and 1.7 goals across his first three games with the Dragons, earning a call-up to the AFL Academy squad for an exhibition match against Coburg’s VFL side in early April where he again impressed with 18 disposals, five marks and two goals.
“If you go back, his start to the year was exceptional,” one recruiter said.
“He was a real point of difference, too.”
The injury meant Hotton missed the rest of the school football season with Haileybury College, an under-18 national championships title with Vic Metro and a premiership with Sandringham.
“It’s been difficult at times, but I tried to stay involved with all my teams, whether that’s helping with coaching or on the bench,” Hotton said.
“It’s been fun watching a lot of my mates play really well and hopefully get picked in this draft. So I’ve sort of switched my attention to my teammates and supporting them.”
Hotton is the younger brother of recently-delisted St Kilda midfielder Olli and the son of former Carlton and Collingwood player Trent Hotton.
FAMOUS GRANDFATHER KEEPS TRAINOR GROUNDED
The grandson of football goalkicking great Doug Wade says he is kept “level” when he is reminded of the achievements of his famous relative.
A first-round draft hopeful this year, Luke Trainor has good bloodlines as the grandson of Wade.
A former Geelong and North Melbourne forward, Wade kicked 1057 goals across 267 games during the 1960s and 70s.
He sits fifth on the all-time AFL/VFL goalkicking table, behind only Tony Lockett (1360 goals), Gordon Coventry (1299 goals), Jason Dunstall (1254 goals) and Lance Franklin (1066 goals).
“I’ve tried to watch a bit of his highlights but they’re all black and white so they’re pretty hard to find,” Trainor said of his grandfather.
“He’s great to have in my corner and comes to a lot of my games and gives me a lot of support.
“Whenever the family talks about my footy he always butts in and talks about his. There’s a funny story. After a game last year where I kicked six goals he goes, ‘Oh that’s great but I kicked seven in a quarter once’. So he really keeps me level.
“I love him and he’s such a good grandfather to have to look up to.”
Trainor spent much of his junior football playing as a forward but has moved to defence over the past two years where he has developed into a 194cm interceptor who can also provide some good rebound by foot from the back half.
From five Coates Talent League matches with the Sandringham Dragons this year he averaged 19.8 disposals, 5.6 marks (2.4 intercept marks) and six intercept possessions.
“I’ve always looked up to Tom Stewart,” Trainor said.
“Just his ability to be a defender and lock blokes down and intercept and then get up the ground and use his offensive flair, that’s something I pride myself on. All us footy players want the ball in our hands and try and impact with it, but just having that balance of doing both and being really good at both is something that I work in each day to try and get better at.”
HOSTEL MEETING THAT MAY DEIVER SAINTS A GEM
A chance meeting at an Italian hostel may ultimately deliver St Kilda a draft gem.
The parents of Saints Next Generation Academy prospect Adrian Cole were both in Europe for different reasons.
His father, born and raised in Nigeria, moved to Italy when he was 20 years of age and had been living there for nearly two decades.
Meanwhile, Cole’s Australian mother was over in Italy for a study trip.
“Mum met my dad at the hostel he was working at and the rest is history,” Cole said.
Cole, a determined defender who appears set to join St Kilda in this year’s draft, has been inspired by his parents.
His father lived a more fortunate life than others growing up in Nigeria, but it was still a world away from what the Sandringham Dragons stopper experiences now.
Throughout his childhood has watched his dad wake up at the early hours of the morning to work as a doorman at five-star hotel Grand Hyatt in Melbourne’s CBD.
“They’ve shown me what hard work is,” Cole said.
“Dad having a lot of setbacks in his life, he was working hard, waking up at 3:30-4 in the morning for work and showing me you’ve got to work hard for what you want to achieve in life. And my mum too just working hard.
“Through my life, they’ve been big on that, and I’m a determined person so yeah, kind of stems off them.”
Despite being with St Kilda’s academy since he was 13, Cole is a Sydney supporter thanks to his grandfather on his mother’s side, attending this year’s losing grand final
And while his father’s true love is soccer, he has grown to love Aussie rules.
“I think now he is a big Swannies supporter, mum got him on board,” Cole said.
“He always goes on about how physical it is and it’s such a different game compared to soccer, much more physical but he loves it.”
WILL SAINTS TAKE ‘PRETTY SPECIAL’ FATHER-SON?
Not many know St Kilda father-son prospect Elwood Peckett quite like Cooper Hynes.
Hynes, who shapes as a potential first-rounder in this year’s draft, has played his junior footy with Peckett at Bonbeach and watched him shine at the back-half of the season with the Dandenong Stingrays.
Peckett, the son of 252-game Saint Justin, is one of three talents tied to the club, but has flown under the radar compared to St Kilda Next Generation Academy defenders Adrian Cole and Lenny Hofmann.
St Kilda has only drafted three father-sons in its history, the most recent being Bailey Rice who played 11 games for the club.
While Justin Peckett was a reliable lockdown defender, his son Elwood has shown he can hit the scoreboard as a midfielder.
The 187 centimetre prospect showed his potential with a barnstorming performance against the Murray Bushrangers late in the year, booting five goals to go with 25 disposals, 13 score involvements and eight tackles.
“He really snuck forward and got on the end of a few from 50, so that ability is definitely pretty special about him,” Hynes said.
“He’s always had that as a junior as well playing for Bonbeach.
“I know his ability, I know what he’s capable of and it’s exciting that he’s been able to show that back half the year.”
The week before Peckett displayed his inside grunt with 19 disposals, 15 contested possessions, 13 tackles, and 175 SuperCoach points against the Ranges.
“Had some really good games starting from that Eastern Ranges game, from there it sort of propelled his season and he was really good from there,” Hynes said.
Hynes had been the main goalkicking midfielder for the Stingrays this year though, booting 23 goals and averaging 23 disposals across 15 games.
This included a bag of his own against the Suns Academy where he produced a staggering statline of 23 disposals, 12 score involvements, five goals, three score assists and 190 SuperCoach points.
But the powerful forward-midfielder feels his best performance of the year came in the same match where Elwood slotted five – and he didn’t even play the entire game.
Hynes racked up 28 disposals and three goals before going off with an ankle injury in the final quarter.
“Got injured in the last quarter but feel like for them first three quarters I was able to show a bit of one-on-one power and hit the scoreboard other times as well. Got a win which is good as well,” Hynes said.
ANOTHER ONE FOR MOUNT MARTHA
One of Victoria’s most successful junior football clubs is poised to have another top-10 draft pick roll off the production line.
Mount Martha Junior Football Club on the Mornington Peninsula lays claim to being the original home to past and present AFL stars including Peter ‘Spida’ Everitt, Lachie Whitfield, Jacob Weitering, Nic Newman, Hunter Clark, Tom De Koning and Sam De Koning.
Whitfield (pick 1, 2012), Weitering (pick 1, 2015) and Clark (pick 7, 2017) were all top-10 draft picks and Harvey Langford looks set to join them this November.
Langford played in four junior premierships with Mount Martha, before transitioning into the Dandenong Stringrays talent programs.
He served as a co-captain of the Stingrays this year alongside fellow draft prospect Cooper Hynes.
“Coming into this year for both me and Cooper Hynes, it was more about the actions that we lead by,” Langford said.
“(We wanted to) lead by example on game day and at training with how hard we work. But I think this year my voice and being able to address a team has definitely developed so much. I think what’s really important for a captain is getting a really good connection with not just a few of the boys but every boy, every teammate. I think that creates a really good environment and leads to success.”
A 191cm big-bodied midfield, Langford is a tough ball-winner who has great endurance and can push forward and impact the scoreboard.
He has been strongly linked to Adelaide (pick four) and Melbourne (pick 5), but could slip to Richmond (pick six) or St Kilda (pick 7).
A penetrating left-footer, Langford looks up to Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli.
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