AFL Draft: How Tigers can land dominant 2025 hand at Wednesday’s draft

Given their massive haul, the Tigers have control of the 2024 draft, and it could ensure that they also have their pick of the litter when the 2025 crop of draftees comes along.

Richmond can retain four selections in the top 15 of Wednesday’s draft and still turbocharge its 2025 draft hand given its rivals’ desperation to move up the order for specific players.

The Tigers have options to trade up to North Melbourne’s pick two or hand over a pair of selections for one of St Kilda’s top 10 picks but instead can effectively play the futures market.

History shows Richmond’s exceptional draft hand – 1, 6, 10, 11, 18, 20, 23, 24 – gives it the perfect chance on draft night to slide back a handful of picks across multiple selections and still cash in.

On draft night last year Essendon moved up the order from pick 11 to pick 10 to secure Nate Caddy and gave back the No. 31 selection that allowed Geelong to secure late-blooming Shaun Mannagh.

GWS handed over a future second-round pick to the Saints to move up a single spot from 18 to 17 to secure exciting Tasmanian utility James Leake, with the Saints then taking athletic freak Darcy Wilson.

The departures of some premiership heroes has given the Tigers a massive draft haul. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

And Adelaide gave up its future second-round pick to trade 11 and 15 for the Giants’ eight and 17, taking rangy defender Daniel Curtin as a long-term play.

Richmond orchestrated a series of draft-night trades that allowed it to accumulate the late picks it eventually traded for Brisbane’s No. 20 draft pick.

It shuffled from pick 35 to Fremantle’s 38 (picking up the Dockers future fourth-rounder), then 38 to 40 (picking up West Coast’s future third-rounder).

It also traded out pick 54 for a future fourth-rounder, then this year traded 32, 42, 43 and 45 for Brisbane’s pick 20 to eventually secure eight picks in the top 24.

In the 2022 national draft Hawthorn gave away its future second and third-round picks to move from pick 27 to Sydney’s No. 18 and struck gold with athletic utility Josh Weddle.

In 2021 Port Adelaide gave up a future second-rounder to move from pick 14 to pick 12 to secure half back Josh Sinn.

With a new points system diluting the value of back-end picks from 2025 the Tigers will be less intent on securing future third-rounders this time around.

But while trying to secure North Melbourne’s future first-rounder would be utopia to bolster a 2025 draft hand, securing a clutch of future second-rounders while still taking seven or eight top 30 picks would be a brilliant strategy.

Richmond has selections in the teens where there are a heap of positional types of interest – big ruckmen, key position swingmen, key forwards – and clubs might give up plenty to secure a 15-year key position pillar.

Blair Hartley has some big calls to make. Picture: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Key back Curtin and key forward Caddy were priority targets for the Crows and Dons.

But Richmond also has the first pick in the second round of the draft – No. 24 – after clubs have gone away and done their homework on players who were not selected on Wednesday.

History shows clubs can trade that selection for a draft bonanza if the right player is available.

Richmond list boss Blair Hartley made clear on the last day of the trade period the club was open to staggering the club’s selections over two seasons.

“As a list manager you’re always looking to position yourself in those strong drafts, which sets our club up for what’s next. It feels like it puts us in a good position leading into the trade window as well as the picks leading into the draft. And, also, we can trade picks live on the night. So, we’re pretty happy with where we’re at right now,” he said.

“I won’t rule out anything. We’ve just got to let the dust settle. The draft’s very even. Everyone sees it differently, though. We’ll assess it as it comes. But we’re open to everything. If we can stagger it out, we will.”