AFL mid-season draft 2025: AFL Young Guns series to showcase top talents
The AFL Young Guns series has produced three No.1 picks for the mid-season draft. Will another feature this year? See the full Young Guns and Vic Metro squads.
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The son of an AFL coach, a towering 209cm tall and a high-flying junior basketball star are among a raft of overlooked 2024 draft prospects who will be
out to impress recruiters this weekend.
With the AFL mid-season rookie draft quickly approaching on May 28, a team of 23 ‘Young Guns’ have been picked to play an exhibition match against a Vic Metro under-18 side on Saturday.
The Young Guns squad includes many of Victoria and Tasmania’s top prospects for the mid-season draft, including both overage players in the Coates Talent League and VFL-listed talents.
Noah Yze – the son of Richmond coach Adem – has been named in the squad after being overlooked by Melbourne as a father-son prospect in last year’s draft.
The 19-year-old featured as a forward in three VFL matches for Casey to start this season, kicking goals in each of those games.
Western Jets ruckman-forward Ayden McCarroll – who measured 209.4cm in pre-season testing – is the tallest player in the squad, while 199cm Murray Bushrangers ruckman Zac Harding has also been named after spending the summer training with Carlton’s VFL squad.
Harding recorded 16 disposals, five marks and 20 hit-outs in a Vic Country trial match on Good Friday.
Eastern Ranges bolter Rod Ali is another prospect to watch, after impressing in the early rounds of his first season in football’s talent pathways.
A junior footballer at Mitcham, the 19-year-old had focused on his basketball until this year but possesses a huge natural leap and great speed.
Ali, who measures 186cm, logged 11 disposals, seven marks (five intercept marks) and eight spoils in defence during a round 3 win over the Western Jets in the Coates Talent League.
He also collected 15 disposals and four rebound-50s in a recent trial match for Vic Metro.
Ballarat boy Floyd Burmeister – a 199cm forward-ruckman – is also on the radar of scouts after recording 17 disposals, 13 score involvements and kicking 3.3 in a round 2 win for the Greater Western Victoria Rebels earlier this month.
Considered unlucky not to be drafted last November, the incredibly athletic big man finished third in the standing vertical jump and sixth in the running vertical jump at last year’s national draft combine.
Another 2024 national draft combine attendee, Adrian Cole, has made a solid start to the season as a 19-year-old for the Dandenong Stingrays while also being listed with North Melbourne’s VFL side.
The defender was eligible to join St Kilda via Next Generation Academy rules last year but was overlooked.
Fellow key defender Zac Walker – who had been playing senior football for Phillip Island the past three years – also received a Young Guns call-up after impressing across two early-season games as a 19-year-old for Gippsland Power.
In the second of those matches, Walker logged 19 disposals, 10 marks (seven intercept marks), seven rebound 50s and four spoils.
The past three No. 1 picks in the mid-season draft – Geordie Payne, Ryan Maric and Jai Culley – all represented the Young Guns in the year they were drafted.
The Young Guns will also play a second match against Vic Country on May 4.
Originally published as AFL mid-season draft 2025: AFL Young Guns series to showcase top talents
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