Draft Intel: Latest news from around Australia ahead of 2024 AFL national draft
This bullocking midfielder has won plenty of fans, but the Hawks get first dibs on draft night. Find out where this youngster got his nickname, his point-of-difference and more intel here.
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The 2024 AFL national draft is now less than two weeks away and clubs are close to finalising their draft boards.
Here’s the latest draft news from around the country, after this week’s mock draft of the first round, and continued with an expanded second round.
WHERE THE BIDS ARE SET TO COME
Reigning premier Brisbane is set to avoid paying top dollar for father-son gun Levi Ashcroft, with Richmond looking increasingly unlikely to place a bid on the midfielder at No. 1 in this month’s national draft.
If North Melbourne keeps hold of pick 2, a bid on Ashcroft may be left to Carlton at pick 3 — saving the Lions a significant number of draft points.
Brisbane would have to stump up 2,400 points (after a 20 per cent discount) to match a bid on Ashcroft at pick 1, but a bid at pick 3 would only cost it 1787 points.
It could be the difference between heading into next year with a points deficit or not, given the Lions will also need to match a bid on Academy member Sam Marshall around pick 20.
Clubs expect two other bids to be placed on Academy members within the top-10 selections on draft night, with St Kilda favoured to bid on Gold Coast Suns Academy member Leo Lombard with one of its first two selections.
The Saints (picks 7 and 8) and Melbourne (pick 9) have also been linked to placing an early bid on Essendon Next Generation Academy (NGA) member Isaac Kako.
Carlton will be sweating on whether a bid comes for father-son Ben Camporeale before its second selection at No. 38, with recruiters having the South Australian midfielder either just before or just after that pick on their draft boards.
Twin brother Lucas is expected to come into play later in the order.
St Kilda NGA member Adrian Cole is considered likely to attract a bid in the late 30s or early 40s, after St Kilda’s third selection which currently stands at No. 32.
Giants Academy ruckman Logan Smith is also set to come into calculations at that range, with a bid in the 30s considered a good chance.
Some clubs believe Sydney Swans Academy defender Joel Cochran could attract a bid anywhere from pick 25 onwards, with one scout saying the Swans had done “a good job of hiding him away”.
Cochran won the 2km time trial at the national draft combine last month.
Another St Kilda NGA member, defender Lennox Hofmann, is expected to receive a bid later in the draft, while Hawthorn NGA midfielder Cody Anderson is also said to have “lots of fans” from about pick 45 onwards.
Adelaide father-son prospect Tyler Welsh has attracted little interest, despite scouts recognising the marking forward’s potential.
The Crows are therefore likely to be able to secure Welsh — the son of former Adelaide goalkicker Scott — with their second and final pick in the draft, which currently sits at No. 64.
North Melbourne should be able to secure River Stevens — the son of two-time premiership player Anthony — as a rookie.
PICK SWAP WINDOW COMING TO A CLOSE
Clubs are poised to take their current draft hands into November 20 as the pick swap window comes to a close.
The trading window opened immediately after the trade period but closes at 5pm Friday.
Trades are then unable to be completed until draft night.
No deals have yet been done during the window, despite some discussions which have largely centred around North Melbourne’s pick 2.
That selection has been shopped around to Richmond, while Adelaide has also engaged in talks with the Kangaroos about trading pick 4 to jump a couple of spots up the board.
North Melbourne has been strongly linked to Gippsland Power bolter Alix Tauru at pick 2, but could likely still secure him if it slides back a few spots in the order.
THE NEW ‘FOOTY FACTORY’ CHURNING OUT PROSPECTS
Commentator Brian Taylor used to constantly reference the Calder Cannons “footy factory”.
These days, it is fellow Coates Talent League club Sandringham Dragons that is churning out AFL players.
In 2021, the Dragons had eight players selected in the national draft – including No. 3 pick Finn Callaghan – plus one Next Generation Academy selection.
In 2022, there were six players selected from the Dragons – headlined by No. 2 pick Will Ashcroft – plus one zone selection.
Then in 2023, the club had seven players picked up through the national draft, plus two players who were selected in the rookie draft.
If you add in Cooper Lord – a mid-season draft selection for Carlton this year – that makes 10 players from last year’s crop and 26 players across three years who have found AFL homes.
This year, the Dragons are every chance to have double-figure draftees once again.
Levi Ashcroft, Harry Armstrong, Murphy Reid, Taj Hotton, Luke Trainor, Sam Marshall and Harrison Oliver all shape as top-30 selections, while Adrian Cole, Lennox Hofmann and Josh Dolan are also firmly in the frame to have their names read out a little later in the order.
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In addition, there has also been interest in a number of other players, including Luke Kennedy, Jhett Haeata, Lachie Voss, Mitch Kirkwood-Scott and Bailey McKenzie.
Recruiters are tipping around 65 picks in this year’s national draft, meaning an extraordinary percentage of this year’s draft pool looks set to be plucked from Sandringham.
THE OTHER DRAFT GEM ON THE WAY TO LIONS
Brisbane academy prospect Marshall was bedridden for the Lions’ premiership triumph, but he was still left inspired by the players who will likely become his teammates in a fortnight.
Marshall soaked up the atmosphere in the rooms at the MCG a week earlier after Brisbane’s last gasp win over Geelong.
But the ball-winning midfielder, who could attract a rival bid late in the first round, picked up an illness which also kept him out of testing at the national combine testing in early October.
“I got to watch the prelim against Geelong. That was a pretty good game to watch, but just watched (the grand final) on TV. I was quite sick, so I was just in bed the whole time,” Marshall said.
“It was pretty disappointing.
“I didn’t have a ticket, but I probably could have somehow managed to get a ticket.”
While Marshall didn’t get to see it live like his Sandringham Dragons premiership teammate Levi Ashcroft, who jumped onto the ground post-game to join his Norm Smith Medal-winning brother Will, it lit a fire within him.
Especially after spending five weeks with the club at the start of the year, living with Lions star Hugh McCluggage and delisted defender Jaxon Prior.
“It was pretty cool, because I spent a fair bit of time with them in the pre-season,” Marshall said.
“Building that connection with most of them and just seeing them get the ultimate team success was great to see them get the premiership.
“To see guys like Will and stuff like that – not long ago they were in my shoes in under-18s, now they are out doing it on the biggest stage.
“So it is pretty inspiring and pretty cool.
“It’d be awesome to join the Lions, pretty close to home and stuff like that. But nothing is a guarantee, so happy to go anywhere I think.”
Marshall had a defining grand final performance of his own, taking out the best on ground medal in the Coates Talent League decider with 28 disposals, two goals and 175 SuperCoach points.
From Kawana on the Sunshine Coast, Marshall joined the Dragons program this year while boarding at Melbourne Grammar.
He said it took him a while to adjust, but he hit his straps when it mattered most.
“I thought I was building in the finals and thought I had a pretty decent finals series,” Marshall said.
“Then in the first quarter I got onto the end of a few, so it sort of gave me a bit of momentum throughout the game.
“It was good to get the win really because the whole team really, hadn’t had much team success with Melbourne Grammar. But I’ve really enjoyed all those sort of programs as well, so it was good to get the win in the end.”
WHITLOCK TWINS BULK UP BEAUTIFULLY
When they haven’t been on a football field this year, twin brothers Jack and Matt Whitlock could be found in a gym.
The athletic talls have been pumping iron together and downing protein shakes in a bid to add some more muscle to their big frames.
Working with a dietitian, both have added up to 10kg since last year.
“I took a pretty big emphasis on gaining weight this year,” Jack said.
“I’ve definitely hopped on the protein supplements. Then we have chickens at home so I’ve had lot of scrambled eggs every night, pretty much.”
Jack measures 2cm taller than Matt and is also two minutes older.
But both twins are rated as top-30 draft prospects this year.
“You always throw them in together; that’s just the way it is,” Murray Bushrangers coach Mark Brown said.
“But they’re different people and they’re different footballers. While they’re very similar in shape and size and athletic ability, they play differently, there’s no doubt about that.”
The Whitlock boys have drawn comparisons to fellow AFL twins Max and Ben King – and they don’t shy away from them.
“They’ve both had great careers and we hope to have good careers in the AFL too,” Matt said.
However, they play slightly different games.
Jack is a 200cm mobile marking key forward who boasts an impressive leap, but Matt is a 198cm versatile swingman who featured at both ends of the ground this year.
Off the field, the twins are also a little different.
“I feel like we’re pretty different personality-wise,” Matt said.
“Jack’s a bit more of the older brother and I’m the younger brother. I’m probably a bit more easygoing than Jack, but we’re both pretty driven and passionate people.”
The pair have spent little time apart growing up, but are prepared to be split in different directions in this draft.
“We’re ready for that. That’s probably going to be the reality,” Jack said.
“It might be better,” Matt added.
“You don’t really want to live with your brother your whole life.”
HOW HAWKS TIED BULL WAS DUBBED ‘BEAST FROM THE EAST’
They call him the ‘Beast from the East’.
Well, since the beginning of this year at least.
Bullocking inside midfielder Cody Anderson, who lives 65 kilometres east of Melbourne’s CBD in Healesville, still isn’t quite sure how the nickname came up.
But the Hawthorn Next Generation Academy prospect suspects it was prominent player agent Nick Gieschen and his brother, Rhy, a recruiter with Richmond.
“I don’t know how it actually came up, I think it might have been Nick Gieschen that came up with it or his brother,” Anderson said with a smile.
“And then my manager got onto it and it kind of went from there and then there was a couple of articles and stuff, and then that’s just what it was.”
The Eastern Ranges product certainly lives up to the name with his strong frame and his fierce intent at the contest.
And his unique work outside of footy has seen him become even more physically imposing.
Finishing school last year, Anderson has been working with his uncle most of the week as a tree arborist.
But he has stayed out of the trees, not wanting to put a potential AFL career in jeopardy.
“I’m on the ground crew, so they all climb and I usually drag the branches and cut the branches and just a lot of cutting and dragging I guess,” Anderson said.
When Anderson isn’t cutting branches, he is crunching opponents with tackles and bumps.
Anderson averaged six tackles per game at the Ranges along with 23 disposals, 12 contested possessions and six clearances.
It should come as no surprise that the manchild fit in seamlessly in his VFL debut at Box Hill, where he booted two goals and won 16 disposals.
Anderson also racked up a whopping 48 disposals in one senior game for Healesville in the past.
Midfielders his size are typically slow, but Anderson’s point-of-difference is his speed, recording a top-10 finish in the 20 metre sprint at the Coates Talent League pre-season testing day in the pre-season.
Unfortunately a syndesmosis blow in the opening minutes of his first national championships game sidelined Anderson for two months, interrupting his strong season to date.
But he still has plenty of fans despite the Hawks having first dibs on him.
“I managed to get back for two games just before finals, which I was probably underdone, but I just wanted to get back to help my team in finals,” Anderson said.
“We got done, so it was good to just play again.”
Anderson has shared the centre square at the Ranges with another midfield bull in Josh Smillie.
He believes the 195cm midfielder is worthy of being taken with the number one pick in the draft.
“It has been really good. I’m really hoping he goes one, he deserves it,” Anderson said.
“We grew up playing, we’ve been at Eastern since we were 16, we were the two youngest there, and gone through together.
“So it’s been really good and we’ve got a good friendship.”
KAKO WANTS TO BE A ‘ROLE MODEL’
Essendon draft prospect Isaac Kako says he wants to be a “role model” to his community as he looks to become the first player from his small suburban football club to be drafted to the AFL.
The youngest of five children, Kako was born in Australia to Iraqi parents who had their first three kids in Iraq.
While soccer is the predominant sport in the Iraqi community, Kako followed in the footsteps of his older brother Eliot and took up football as soon as he could.
“Ever since I was little, four years old or whatever it was, I always went to his (Eliot’s) trainings, Tuesday, Thursday and I loved going to his games,” Kako said.
“I used to run out with the senior boys. I just fell in love with it from there.
“My brother’s mates wanted him to try out footy. Hopefully I can help influence a lot more of the Iraqi community to start picking up footy.”
Kako, who has been part of Essendon’s Next Generation Academy since age 12, shapes as the best small forward in this year’s draft pool.
Bombers list boss Matt Rosa has described him as “a real threat” around goal and “a player with some special talents”.
Kako’s curly hair also might help him become a cult figure at the Bombers in the years to come.
“I’ve always had them, but I never really took much care of them,” Kako said of the curls.
“I started taking more care of them, but it’s all natural. Everyone thinks it’s fake, but it’s not. I just get in the shower, let water get into them, dry off. That’s it.”
Kako has spent most of his junior career at the Northern Saints Football Club in the Melbourne suburb of Fawkner, where his older brothers Eliot and Bronell also play.
“It’s every kid’s dream to play AFL football, so hopefully I’ll have my name called out in November,” Kako said.
“It will be pretty special for me and my family and definitely mean a lot to be a role model to the community as well.”
ASHCROFT CAN’T WAIT TO JOIN BROTHER
Brisbane Lions father-son prospect Levi Ashcroft says he has learnt plenty of lessons from his older brother Will, with whom he has remained “very close”.
Levi is set to join Will at the Lions in this month’s national draft, with the gun midfielder expected to attract a top-five bid.
While the brothers have been physically separated in different states the past two years since Will was drafted to Brisbane in 2022, that hasn’t got in the way of their strong relationship.
“He’s my best mate,” Levi said.
“We talk almost every day on the phone if I’m in Melbourne and he’s up in Brisbane. We’re always talking, not always just about football, just about life mainly. I have such a close relationship with him and it’s going to be really, really special that we’ll be able to hopefully pull on the same jumper next year.”
Levi officially nominated as a father-son for the Lions in August and said it was one of the easier decisions he had ever made to join Will at the club.
“Brisbane is such an amazing club. It has so much history over time, not only for my family but for the whole club,” Levi said.
“You’ve got so many great people in the club, people like Danny Daly, Chris Fagan, all these guys that have even been supporting me for the last couple of years I’ve been around the club. They’re just great people to be around and people you want to play for and win for. To be able to play with Will was also a factor. I got a taste of that playing for Sandringham and winning a premiership with him (in 2022). I wanted that again in the big time.”
SPEARHEAD’S UNCERTAINTY AHEAD OF DRAFT
GWV Rebels spearhead Jonty Faull concedes the uncertainty around where he might get picked up has been challenging.
Faull is one of the best key forwards available and has been interviewed by almost every club, with his draft range set to start in the teens.
Port Adelaide, Fremantle, GWS, Richmond and Sydney all currently hold picks from 13-19 — four states in the space of seven selections — and could target a tall forward.
Clubs hold their cards close to their chest ahead of the draft with talent orders and plans kept quiet, meaning prospects are often left in the dark.
Faull, a 195 centimetre goalkicker, will be moving away from home regardless given he is from Redan in Ballarat and can’t wait to play for an AFL club.
Asked if there was one thing he would change about the current draft system, Faull said it would be greater transparency between players and clubs during the interview process.
“I feel it’s so hard to sort of gauge sort of where you’re going, what you’re doing, what a club views about you. Well that’s my personal experience,” Faull said.
“It’s so tough, you just know that in the middle of November you are going to Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, you could go anywhere and it’s sort of hard to wrap your head around that.
“But it is hard for the clubs as well, can’t complain.”
Faull said his school studies at Ballarat Grammar have been a welcome distraction for him.
No matter where Faull goes, it will be a lot different to what he is used to back in Redan.
“We used to play on the Western Oval. It’s a bit of a mud pile actually, it is probably the size of the (MCG) 50 almost,” Faull said.
“So back when I was in under 12s I could 50 already because it was only 20 metres.
“Compared to the Western Oval, (playing on AFL grounds) would be the best.”
THE TOP VFL PROSPECTS IN DRAFT MIX
Richmond’s Sam Davidson and Werribee pair Jack Henderson and Riley Bice have attracted attention as mature-age draft options from the VFL.
However, they are not the only players from the state league who are in the mix to achieve their AFL dreams.
Carlton VFL forward Liam McMahon — a former Collingwood-listed AFL player — is also considered a good chance to earn another opportunity at the top level, headlining a list of other hopefuls.
CODE Sports compiled a comprehensive guide to the 15 top prospects from the VFL, who you can learn more about here.
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Originally published as Draft Intel: Latest news from around Australia ahead of 2024 AFL national draft
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