AFL mid-season draft: Josh Carmichael a bolter from Merbein

Long unheralded during his Merbein days, the newest Magpie is poised to make a name for himself on the national stage.

The Sunraysia league produced two players snapped up in the AFL mid-season draft on last night, but their journeys to the elite level could not be more different.

Oskar Faulkhead, originally from Wentworth, took the more traditional path of playing for the Bendigo Pioneers and attended Geelong Grammar before being taken by Gold Coast with its only selection, No.7.

But Collingwood’s pick at No. 9, Josh Carmichael, has stunned veteran talent watchers including Kevin Sheehan.

Last year, Carmichael played for Merbein in a Covid-shortened Sunraysia league season and didn’t even win the club’s best and fairest.

Merbein's Josh Carmichael kicks a goal on the run in the Sunraysia league last year. Picture: Michael DiFabrizio

In 2020, when Covid wiped out all country football, Carmichael went to Darwin to play in the Northern Territory summer competition.

He travelled back from Adelaide where he was attending university to play for Merbein last year before committing to playing for West Adelaide this season with devastating impact.

Carmichael represented South Australia after just six games and had clubs clamouring for him in the lead-up to the draft.

“The way he has played this year made him a certainty to get picked up,” Sheehan said.

“He had four or five clubs after him in the finish.

“He has come from nowhere to be honest.”

Josh Carmichael playing for Nightcliff in the AFLNT league in 2020. Picture: AFLNT Media

Merbein vice-president Craig Smith said the club was proud of the 22-year-old who had been averaging 25 possessions and a goal per game with West Adelaide this year.

“We knew he was as good as what he is, but no one else did,” Smith said.

“Through all the grades he has shown he has a great football brain and is willing to listen to people.

“He has literally come from the clouds.”

"I think he' probably the guy that we're going to see first"@CalTwomey says there's a lot to like about newest Magpie Josh Carmichael 🙌

Watch the 2022 NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft LIVE: https://t.co/0JxUuH8HH3pic.twitter.com/QxspiNoXCG

— AFL (@AFL) June 1, 2022

Magpies national recruiting manager Derek Hine likened Carmichael to West Coast’s Andrew Gaff as a player.

“Going into the draft we had five names on the board, a mixture of talls and mids, and we were really fortunate to have Josh there,” he said.

“He’s proven in the SANFL he is more than capable of matching it against AFL-listed (players).

“He has had very limited exposure to an elite system so we’re really confident that when he comes in he will assimilate into the group really quickly.”