The 13 draftees who will make an instant impact in 2024 – and their likely SuperCoach output
Nate Caddy was drafted as an AFL-ready player but the Bombers’ forward depth may mean he has to bide his time. See Jon Ralph’s 13 young guns who could make an immediate impact.
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Which draftees will hit the AFL ready to go for Round 1 next season?
Jon Ralph gives his 13 young guns who will feature from the opening bounce in 2024 – and whether they should be in your SuperCoach calculations.
1. HARLEY REID (West Coast)
Expect Reid to make a splash in a big way but not yet as a pure midfielder.
Lost in the hype over his ‘Dusty’ don’t-argues and nose for goal is that he’s not yet at an elite level of fitness in the way fellow No. 1 pick Sam Walsh was when he burst on to the scene in 2019.
Reid will also play in a West Coast side in which he will enjoy little easy ball or effortless over-the-top goals.
It is why he’s not a lock for the Rising Star – think Jason Horne-Francis and his debut season at North Melbourne.
Said one recruiter: “He will be able to play anywhere but he won’t be able to play midfield yet. He didn’t do a lot of (conditioning) work this year. He needs to do a fair bit of preparation and conditioning. So play him forward and back and he can definitely play both.”
Said another: “If I am Adam Simpson I am playing him at half-back. He did it as a bottom-ager for Vic Country and did it easily. He will ultimately play midfield and deep forward but I would start him at half-back.”
SUPER COACH CERTAINTY? 9/10 – Everyone will have him in their team but accept there will be some quiet games stuck in starvation corner.
2. COLBY McKERCHER (North Melbourne)
Consider McKercher as a Rising Star possibility in a team that hopes to go places next year after a strong final month of what was a tough season.
His game is so well rounded, as shown by his final Allies game against Vic Country: 33 disposals, six inside 50s, 15 contested possessions, nine clearances, two goals and two direct score assists. And kicking at 75 per cent efficiency.
The centre square will be hard to crack into ahead of Jy Simpkin, Luke Davies-Uniacke, George Wardlaw, Tarryn Thomas, Will Phillips, Tom Powell and company but the Roos have plenty of room on the flanks to play the likes of McKercher.
Said one recruiter: “He is a star. The Roos could start him on a wing or high half-forward and give him a bit of time through the midfield. They have got a lot of mids and a lot of depth but he’s such a good player. He can play anywhere. He could be a weapon at half-back with the run and the angles he uses. He carries the ball with speed. He will slot in perfectly. He can play a lot of positions.”
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY? 10/10 – He will play every week, he finds the ball so easily, he hits the scoreboard. Tick, tick, tick.
3. ZANE DUURSMA (North Melbourne)
While Duursma played plenty of midfield through his junior years the Roos are likely to settle him down as a forward for his early seasons.
So while he’s probably not a big part of your 2024 SuperCoach side he is a perfect player to build out the Roos list. The question is whether he will grow tall enough to play as a quasi centre half forward given he is only 189cm.
The Roos love his class and all-round abilities – strong mark, lovely kick, full of class.
With only one pre-season under his belt he’s unlikely to be able to play in that high-half forward role which combines relentless two-way running with leading up at the ball carrier.
McKercher might provide earlier bang for buck but look for Clarkson to play Duursma early and often.
Recruiters believe he needs to work on his endurance like all first-year players so it might be eye-catching cameos rather than week-in and week-out consistency we see from Duursma in his debut season.
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY? 7/10 – He will play every week but as a marking forward there will be single-possession games thrown in with brilliant performances.
4. DANIEL CURTIN (Adelaide)
Curtin effortlessly made the step from Colts to WAFL seniors and at 95kg it would surprise if he doesn’t debut in round 1.
The Crows believe Mitch Hinge (190cm) and Josh Worrell (195cm) will play as mid-sized backs alongside Jordon Butts but there is clearly room for Curtin’s gifts as an intercepting tall.
At the very least he will get involved in rebound 50s with his piercing left foot and canny knack of racking up possessions.
Don’t underestimate how elite he is with his disposal.
Consider his disposal efficiency in his first senior WAFL games – 82.3 per cent.
Said one recruiter: “I can see him playing a lot. He’s big, he’s played senior footy. He is in the biggest area of need for the Crows. They have Murray and Butts so it’s just a matter of how quickly he goes past them.”
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY? 10/10 – He will play every week, he is a glorious kick, he might even sneak in some kick-outs and consider his established form – in four under-18 national championships games he averaged 137 ranking points with 23 disposals and 4.5 tackles.
5. NATE CADDY (Essendon)
Caddy’s biggest issue in putting together a breakout debut season is that the Dons finally have some depth in the mid-forward position.
Recruiters are adamant his combativeness, mature body and contested marking game make him AFL-ready.
If Jake Stringer, Archie Perkins, Peter Wright and Kyle Langford are all fit and available he might have to bide his time.
But he has the natural gifts and fitness to make an impact in his first season.
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY? 4/10 – Not certain to play early, the kind of marking forward who will kick three goals from 14 possessions then go missing the next week given the difficult role he plays.
6. SHAUN MANNAGH (Geelong)
Geelong already has high half forwards like Gryan Miers and Brad Close who play such crucial – and at times unrewarded roles – plus an elite crumber in Tyson Stengle.
But Geelong just believed Mannagh was too good not to be in their side and will find plenty of ways to use the elite goalkicking midfielder.
The Werribee midfielder could play half forward and allow Miers to play more midfield given he has scope to round out his game.
He could play more midfield time as he did in the VFL and allow the returning Cam Guthrie to slot in at half back at times to steady the Cats defence alongside brother Zac.
Make no mistake, Mannagh will be a big part of the Cats’ plans next year under Chris Scott.
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY: 10/10 – Geelong recruits the likes of Tom Stewart, Tim Kelly and Tyson Stengle, gives them clearly defined roles and then lets them go to work. An average of 5.6 tackles a game helped him average 117 ranking points across the VFL season.
7. CONNOR O’SULLIVAN (Geelong)
The sky is the limit for marking defender O’Sullivan but don’t sleep on him as a regular member of the back seven next year.
Geelong has lost Esava Ratugolea and there is some uncertainty about the injury history of the recovering Jack Henry.
So while Tom Stewart and Sam De Koning will be defensive mainstays – and Mark O’Connor and Jake Kolodjashnij can play on the mid-sizers – O’Sullivan’s body is mature enough for him to make an early impact.
In his four Allies games this year he averaged 2.5 intercept marks and 6.8 intercept possessions.
Imagine having a licence to fly in a team that also has aerial forces in Stewart and De Koning.
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY: 5/10 – Everyone hypes their draftees in the days after the draft so while there are high hopes this is an established backline and it will be hard to break into.
But in four Championships games he averaged 99 points and churned out two 120-plus scores averaging 17.8 possessions.
8. COOPER SIMPSON (Fremantle)
Simpson’s profile – explosive, exciting, dynamic – matches with the holes Fremantle has in its list.
Both of its wing spots are open and all the Dandenong Stingrays co-captain needs is some consistency after niggling injuries interrupted his 2023 campaign.
The No. 35 draft pick can play inside mid, wing and half forward so assess his pre-season at a young Fremantle side keen to give chances to more youth.
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY: 5/10 – Need to assess whether he can get through a full summer but if he lights it up in the pre-season there will be opportunity.
9. JAKE ROGERS (Gold Coast)
Recruiters who witnessed Rogers’ 26-possession performance against Carlton’s VFL side for the Academy side in March realised he was an out-and-out star.
He’s 170cm and he’s about to try to break into an elite Suns midfield but Damien Hardwick would be crazy if he didn’t try to get him into his side as soon as possible.
The consensus is that even at pick 14 the Suns got a gift, with recruiters noting that despite his size he has instantly adapted to the pace and physicality at every level he has stepped up to.
Watch his five clearances in the Allies clash against Vic Country.
He pushes an opponent under the ball then peels onto his right, tackles an opponent then darts onto a loose ball, blind turns out of trouble to fire out a quick handball.
Then he gets a holding the ball decision, then reacts a split-second quicker than an opponent as the ball spills over the pack then hits up a leading teammate.
He has so many tricks and ways to win the ball.
Don’t get sucked into the size debate.
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY: 8/10 – The Suns must build out their midfield depth and while Bailey Humphrey, Sam Flanders and Alex Davies are all pushing for more time he churns out 25-possession games and is a tackler (5.3 a game in the championships).
10. JED WALTER (Gold Coast)
The hype around ultra-competitive Walter is that he’s a tackling fiend but he only had six tackles across four Under-18 Championships contest.
It is the willingness to ALWAYS be involved that gets him into the contest where he averaged 4.8 forward 50 marks in that quartet of games kicking three, three, three and two goals.
He needs to work on his goalkicking – it might even be his biggest room-for-improvement area – but in a forward line with Ben King, Jack Lukosius and at times Levi Casboult he will get excellent match-ups and have big games.
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY: 8/10 – The Suns premiership window is probably three years away. The quicker the Suns get 40 games into him, Reid and Rogers the better. Can’t see how he doesn’t play every week. But he will not be consistent as a marking forward.
11. NICK WATSON (Hawthorn)
He has speed, he is combative, he can win the ball in so many ways – chase-down tackles, on the lead, crumbing at the fall of the ball.
The interesting part of his 2024 season is how he integrates into a forward line with Luke Breust, Jack Ginnivan, Connor Macdonald and mid-forward Dylan Moore.
Watson averaged only 2.1 tackles in his nine Coates league games and averaged one in four Under-18 championships games but had some high tallies – five, four, five – in games this year.
Can he be a double threat – elite in attack and as a tackler?
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY: 9/10 – Kicked 19 goals and averaged 7.3 score involvements across four Under-18 championships games. Will play every week. Get him in. Set and forget.
12. RILEY HARDEMAN (North Melbourne)
The classy running half back from WA finds space as a defender by peeling off the back of packs then hitting up targets with his lovely left foot. The Roos need two or three of those running back flankers so don’t be surprised if the No. 23 draft pick gets a game early and stays in Alastair Clarkson’s side. Took kick-outs for WA and averaged 71 per cent disposal efficiency and 437 metres gained. He will be one reason why the Roos win from this draft taking five early picks instead of just one in Harley Reid.
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY: 7/10 – Watch this space. Get the feeling Clarko’s message could be to get the ball into his hands as he did watching Grant Birchall emerge as a Hawks defender.
13. CALEB WINDSOR (Melbourne)
Watch Windsor’s best games – like his 22-possession, eight score assist contest for Vic Metro against WA – and two traits are immediately apparent.
He kicks the ball to advantage and he doesn’t waste the footy with up-and-unders or dump kicks forward.
So the classy winger, taken at pick 7, is exactly what the Demons need running forward with football in hand.
SUPERCOACH CERTAINTY: 6/10 - It’s damned hard to break into the Demons’ line-up and he only averaged 15.8 touches across four Championships games. So while he could play early it will be his eye-catching hit-up kicks to Jacob Van Rooyen and Harrison Petty which will raise his profile, rather than 100-plus SuperCoach scores.
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