South Australia's golden generation of footballers set to dominate 2025 AFL national draft
A golden generation of South Australian football talent is poised to dominate next week’s AFL draft and is on the verge of doing something no crop has ever produced before.
It is the year of the Croweater.
South Australia is on the verge of producing one of its greatest top-end AFL draft hauls, with up to nine standout teenagers in line to be selected in the top 30 at next week’s national draft.
Punching well above its draft weight in terms of population, SA could have as many as seven players picked in Wednesday’s first round, which would be a state record.
Another dozen or so SANFL products are given strong chances of finding AFL homes either in the national or rookie drafts.
SA’s championship-winning under-18 coach Tony Bamford described the local draft crop as “a special group’’ in what looms as a golden generation for SA football.
Headlined by state captain and AFL under-18 championships MVP Dyson Sharp and joint vice-captain Sam Cumming, the SANFL is hoping to have “20-to-25 per cent’’ of this year’s national draftees hail from SA – well up from its usual goal of 15 per cent.
“We certainly have a special group this year, there’s no doubt about that,’’ said Bamford, who this year led the Croweaters to their first AFL under-18 boys championship since 2018, when guns Izak Rankine, Connor Rozee and Jack Lukosius were drafted in the top five.
“The last time we had the kind of numbers that are being spoken about being taken so high in the draft was back in my first year in 2018, so it’s really exciting.
“Fourteen of our players were invited to the national testing (AFL Draft Combine) and if we could get most of those on an AFL list it would be awesome.’’
SA is almost certain to surpass last year’s SANFL draft total of 13. In 2023, only nine Croweaters were selected.
The state’s record draft haul is 21 in 2020 (14 in the national draft, including five in the first round, and seven in the rookie lottery) but those numbers were inflated in a Covid-affected year where Victorian club football was shut down.
The SANFL provided a state record six first-round picks in 2012, with the dux of the SA class, Sturt’s Brodie Grundy, slipping to Collingwood at No. 18.
Apart from super-impressive midfielders Sharp (Central District) and Cumming (North Adelaide), this year’s SA draft crop includes fellow All-Australian under-18s Harley Barker (Sturt), Aidan Schubert and Matt LeRay (Central), Mitchell Marsh (West Adelaide) and Sam Ainsworth (Norwood).
Sharp and Cumming are expected to be the first two Croweaters selected – in the seven-to-12 range due to club-tied Academy talent dominating the pointy end of the draft – with Schubert and his Bulldogs teammate Cameron Nairn, Woodville-West Torrens’ Jevan Phillipou (brother of St Kilda’s Mattaes Phillipou), Marsh, Barker, Glenelg mature-age prospect Latrelle Pickett, Blake Thredgold (Sturt) and LeRay next in line.
Other teenagers who have suitors include Richmond father-son prospect Louis Kellaway (Sturt), North’s Blake Oudshoorn-Bennier and Bryce Sanders, the Eagles’ Zane Peucker and Jack Cook, Norwood’s Balyn O’Brien and Jim Kelly, Sturt’s Noah Roberts-Thomson and Jett Dahlitz and South Adelaide’s Elliott Duffield.
Roosters product Taj Murray, who hails from the Northern Territory, is expected to find an AFL home.
Aside from Pickett, who is a cousin of Melbourne star Kysaiah Pickett, other SANFL mature-age hopes include Double Blues duo Angus Anderson, who won the Jack Oatey Medal as best-on-ground in this year’s SANFL league grand final, and Zac Becker and West’s Caleb May.
Bamford, whose SA under-18 team dominated this year’s national championships, going undefeated, said he would be “disappointed’’ if the SANFL didn’t boast “20-to-25 per cent’’ of this year’s draft pool, which is considered shallow nationwide.
It has been reported that a maximum of 57 picks will be used in the national draft – well short of the 71 and 64 players taken in the past two years – while there will also be fewer rookie selections as clubs commit to re-drafting delisted players.
“I’m hearing from AFL recruiters that there won’t be a huge intake in the national draft, so it’s going to be hard for all of our players to get a chance,’’ Bamford said.
“We (the SANFL) try to get 15 per cent of the draft pool every year but we’ve batted above that average for a few years, which has been really good. This year I’m confident we’ll get in that 20-to-25 per cent region.’’
SANFL talent has already been plundered by AFL clubs this year, with six locals selected in the mid-season draft – Glenelg’s Oscar Adams (Gold Coast) and Harrison Ramm (Port Adelaide), Norwood’s Jacob Newton (West Coast), North’s Ewan Mackinlay (Port), Central’s Mani Liddy (Port) and South’s Noah Howes (Collingwood).
Bamford sang the praises of SA’s top teenage draft prospects.
He described Sharp as “a star, a ripper, the whole package who has great leadership skills’’, and revealed Cumming was a personal favourite who he has “a real soft spot for’’.
“I’m a big fan of Sam’s, he’s a star,’’ Bamford said.
“He’s a silent assassin who in the midfield is a combination of (Geelong great) Joel Selwood and (former Crows captain) Rory Sloane in terms of his toughness, while when he plays forward he’s a bit like (Sydney star) Isaac Heeney with his ability to jump and mark the ball.”
The SA coach said left-footed, leading forward Marsh “moves and plays like (Hawthorn’s) Jack Gunston and (Geelong’s) Jeremy Cameron’’ while utility Phillipou has similar traits to his brother and key defender Thredgold reminds him of Brisbane superstar Harris Andrews.
“Jevan has unconditional self belief without being arrogant about it,’’ Bamford said.
“He’s just so driven, focused and confident in his own ability to do the work and perform.
“And when you watch Blake play behind the ball and see his understanding and timing of when to leave his opponent and go to the ball and mark it, it’s like you’re watching Harris Andrews.
“He’s probably the best key defender to come out of our program since I’ve been involved.’’
Bamford said he saw some similarities between key forward Schubert and Crows star, 2020 No. 2 draft pick Riley Thilthorpe, “in terms of athletic ability and competitiveness’’.
But he said Schubert, who has size 16 feet, is still growing into his body.
Bamford believes a club will pull off a steal by drafting powerhouse wingman Barker later than originally expected after he underwent a knee reconstruction in July.
“He’s a star with athletic ability that is ready-made for the AFL,’’ he said.
Bamford described medium forward Nairn as SA’s “bolter’’ whose “footy IQ is off the shelf’’.
Asked why SA had produced such a bumper 2025 draft crop, Bamford said the group’s success went beyond sheer talent.
“If I could summarise it in a couple of sentences it would be that this group of players have committed themselves to the team – and the team’s needs – better than any group I’ve ever coached,’’ he said.
“Dyson, Sam, Jack and our extended leadership group were awesome in making sure that all of our players were prepared to do what was best for the team and not themselves.
“They had great connection and we, as a coaching group, are really proud of how they conducted themselves during the entire (under-18 development) program.
“It was a privilege to coach them and I hope they all get to realise their dreams at some stage.’’
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Originally published as South Australia's golden generation of footballers set to dominate 2025 AFL national draft
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