Analysis by Jordie
Te Puke Pukekos
What Were They Doing?
It’s year three of the big rebuild! After finishing 9th, 10th and now 10th again, Coach Nelson has accessed some great rookies and this draft held more of the same – more rookies to stash and more young players to get a look at. So, names like Matteas Philippou, Harley Reid and Rhyley Sanders are now joined by Levi Ashcroft and the like. This trend of going young was more than just a trend though. There were no exceptions. This was the exclusive strategy. Nelson’s oldest draftee was James Jordon, who is only 24. The Pukekos had a plan, and they stayed true to it.
First Pick
There was intrigue around the first overall pick in the draft. Will it be ball magnet Levi Ashcroft? Or will it be ball magnet Jagga Smith? I don’t think there was a wrong answer. Levi Ashcroft looks to be a massive gun – even better than Will Ashcroft say reports, and Will Ashcroft went number one a couple years ago and has looked great. This pick is such a win, that Nelson could have put his feet up and called it a day afterwards and still received an A for his draft.
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Hands up if you thought the first non-rookie to be selected would be Kane McAuliffe? I see only Nelson’s hand up. Coach Schonfeldt picked the 19-year-old to break the run of 18-year-olds, and the decision did raise some eyebrows. But you can certainly see the logic. Richmond will be atrocious, there will be midfield minutes for some warm body and McAuliffe at least has a year’s experience over half the tigers list. Not to mention his junior numbers were ultra-impressive and his VFL scores last year were noteworthy. Time will tell if selecting Kane will be more pain or gain.
Tasty Slider
I was surprised Bailey Humphrey slid to pick 31. Nelson happily took him then. Given the dearth of forwards in the draft, and the general love of youngsters in the draft, I had Humphrey going in the second round or early third round. He has been a slow-burn thus far, but with prodigious talent and a few years in the system, I think he’s primed for a year where he repays the faith. The term “third year breakout” doesn’t exist for nothing.
Coming Home
Every year, we as coaches get nostalgic and bring back players we have invested in beforehand. Nelson was no exception. As recently as last year he selected Caiden Cleary at pick 21 and Campbell Chesser at pick 56. Deadline day is brutal, and tough calls have to be made. But the Pukekos picked both players up again, both after the tenth round too, so any success they have doesn’t have to burn. And why not enjoy a nice packet of CCs while you watch them, Nelson?
Piqued My Interest
I was unsurprised by Nelson’s focus on youth. But it is interesting how that skews the kinds of teams you invest in. The Pukekos picked four players from last year’s top 6 AFL teams. They picked seven from the bottom 3. The Richmond vs North matches will hold much intrigue for the team from Te Puke.
Solomon’s Soldiers
What were they doing?
With the great deconstruction behind, it was time for the great reconstruction. To my knowledge it seems Coach Alex had two clear objectives. Use his six first-rounders to take the best available draftees. Then just have fun with the rest of the draft. It would appear that he succeeded on both counts.
First Pick
Coach Alex took Sid Draper with first pick – above the more highly-rated Jagga Smith. But then he just took Jagga Smith next. And then Harvey Langford next. All three seem like slam dunk selections. My mind is cast back to when Alex was last rebuilding and had the top two picks – he picked Noah Anderson above Matt Rowell, just for a laugh. Now Anderson is the better player. Have the Soldiers caused Draper to have the better career here?
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No surprises at all from Alex in the first round, with highly rated draftees joining the club. More surprising to my eyes was the selection of Luke Trainor. I put it down to Alex (somehow) managing to not select highly-rated Richmond rookies Sam Lalor, Josh Smillie and Taj Hotton and then saying with his next pick – “I’m getting one of these Richmond youngsters!” Trainor could be a fantasy type, but for me it would have been a Trai-no.
Tasty Slider
Having said that, Murphy Reid sliding to pick 32 was surprising. I think he got lost in the rookie buzz. It was almost as if the starters bell announced, “rookies only” and then the second-round bell announced “best available allowed”. Now I’m not saying Reid should have been a first rounder, but he has an enormous amount of talent and Alex will be happy he slid far enough to be claimed in the fourth round. I think it’s quite likely that the fourth-round draftees will outperform the third-round draftees in four years’ time.
Coming Home
Having burned the place to the ground, I wasn’t sure if there was room for any nostalgia at the Solomon’s Soldiers. But lo and behold, they selected Henry Hustwaite and Logan McDonald at the back end of the draft for one more go-around. These two get another chance…to at least be on the list for a short time. I wouldn’t be unpacking bags if I was them. Any decent free agent could soon take their place.
Piqued My Interest
Due to all the steak knives Alex gave away in his wheeling and dealing, he had no pick between pick 82 (Harry Boyd) and pick 152 (Henry Hustwaite). That’s a long, long time to wait. Too long, as it turned out. Alex got bored and traded a future eleventh round pick to select Darcy Fogarty. This trade makes no sense at all! Fogarty could not become a keeper (could he?). But after his awesome draft haul in the first forty picks, Alex obviously feels like he can do whatever he feels like. And I can’t blame him. He’s made a lot of savvy trades over the years.
Lethal Vipers
What Were They Doing?
The Lethal Vipers are perhaps the hardest team to get a read on. They missed the finals last year but scored quite well late and were desperately unlucky lots of times. Their best is good, but their best players are also getting old. They are far too good for bottom two, but if things go wrong (as they did last year) not good enough for top six. All this to say, the uncertainty regarding the Vipers made it hard for Coach Nathan to come up with a strategy. I’d describe the strategy as prioritize youth but snaffle the undervalued experienced players if they fall. Which, for mine, was probably the right call. It gives flexibility to go all-in or kick-start a rebuild depending on how the season starts.
First Pick
Like half the league, he had to let the first-round pass by and watch rookie after rookie disappear. His first pick was pick 13, picking right after two non-rookies came off the board (McCauliffe and Parker). Nathan went back to the rookie well. There were at that point still three excellent rookie options – Isaac Kako, Taj Hotton and Leo Lombard. He picked Kako, who probably has the lowest ceiling of the three, but he is also the most certain to stay forward, which does count for a lot. I might have taken Hotton first, and others Lombard, but that’s the beauty of the draft. And if Connor Rozee has taught me anything, it’s don’t dismiss “small forward” rookies in the draft.
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After selecting in the second round, the Lethal Vipers had to wait until the fifth round to pick again. They selected Jack Ross. This may end up being an inspired pick – one of these Richmond midfielders is going to get a lot of midfield time. But given I had Jack Ross on my list for a little bit and he cost me a couple of matchups with low scores, I have him on my never-again list. But one man’s doodoo is another man’s donut.
Tasty Slider
I’d call Ross a reach, but Nathan had a bunch of players slide to him. Toby Bedford at 63 and Mitch Duncan at 66 represent great value, particular given his dearth of early picks. But I think the biggest slider was Isaac Cumming. He is a player with keeper potential, he’s at a new club and looks primed for plenty of ball-winning and big scores. Getting him at 53 was a win, and a very justifiable departure from picking the youngsters.
Coming Home
The come-home factor does not happen with bigger names than this – Mitch Duncan and Nat Fyfe. Mitch Duncan is the games record holder at the Lethal Vipers with 136 games. He gets to stay top of the tree for another season at least. Nat Fyfe is etched in team history, with the previous name of the club “Such is Fyfe”. A nice little selection for the Freo fan. I said earlier I thought Duncan was value at pick 66, and with his final pick, taking Fyfe makes a lot of sense when there is so little to lose and genuinely positive benefits possible.
Piqued My Interest
Well, we know which soap brand Nathan prefers. After taking Aidan Johnson of Melbourne and Zak Johnson of Essendon, Nathan showed his strategy of prioritizing youth, with a side of enjoying the name Johnson. I expect a trade for Matt Johnson to happen soon.
Threat Level Midnight
What Were They Doing?
The latest arrival to our draft was a mixed bag in terms of overall strategy. The first six picks can help us get a feel for the variation in direction. The first three picks were win-now players – Ned Moyle, Callum Wilkie and Dylan Shiel. The next three picks were prospects – Christian Moraes, Billy Dowling and Conor Stone. Was Rowan directionless? Or was he experiencing the best of both worlds? A fascinating draft for sure.
First Pick
He had to wait a while, and he delivered with a doozy of a first pick – Ned Moyle at 44. This stunned me. MaherShalalHashBaz had hypothesized that teams which have a good ruck don’t pick ruckmen with their first pick. It’s one of the reasons we dropped Reilly O’Brien. But all that thinking has to be revisited now. Despite having Jordan Sweet locked and loaded in the keepers, Threat Level Midnight went out and grabbed another ruck straight away. I’m still getting my jaw off the floor.
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I’m not done talking about Ned Moyle! Last I checked, Jarrod Witts is still the number one option on the Gold Coast. A big unit that gets big scores, he was drafted just a bit earlier in our draft (pick 28, Defenestrators). But Rowan is betting against Witts and on Moyle. It’s a brave call, particularly with your first pick. But technically, I can see the rationale. Looking back just one year, Jordan Sweet usurped Ivan Soldo, and Lloyd Meek usurped Ned Reeves. Perhaps TLM have found the latest usurper, and PaulZ and Witts are in for a bad year.
Tasty Slider
Sliders are inherently subjective. Rowan might argue that Ned Moyle at 44 was a slider. For me, Conor Stone in the tenth round was great value. Listed as a forward, likely to play midfield, with opportunity beckoning after the departures of Cumming and Peatling, I think Stone ticks all the right boxes as a prospect and could well have been selected earlier.
Coming Home
Plenty of family reunions at Threat Level Midnight. Proud clubman Callum Wilkie returns, taken at pick 52, a most reasonable pick. Billy Dowling was taken at pick 74 – a player drafted to TLM back in 2023. His return was unlikely given he went to the youngster-happy Soldiers for a while there. Then Ryan Lester, with Rowan’s last pick, rejoins the club that drafted him last year. Good to see the coming home parties alive and well.
Piqued My Interest
I feel like writing about Moyle again. He certainly piqued my interest. But the other thing that intrigued me about this draft hand, besides the fact it was small and late, was the lack of DPPs. Rowan did not select a single DPP player. DPPs are not everything. But they are something. Unless you are Rowan, in which case they are a sign of weakness to be avoided at all costs. I look forward to seeing if Rowan can keep this trend going all year with his free agency selections.
Puttanesca Chiefs
What Were They Doing?
The Puttanesca Chiefs surprised last year with a final appearance one year after finishing second-to-bottom. His last draft netted a fantastic 18-year-old in Colby McKercher and some handy still-young pieces like Gryan Miers and Xavier Duursma. The 2024 draft was a rookies-at-the-right-price model, with otherwise young and youngish players coming on board. And this year’s 2025 draft was much the same with a few notable rookies and plenty of guys with 1-3 years AFL experience. The two drafts compare well. Like McKercher last year, Mark started by recruiting a highly touted draftee in Sam Lalor. That should play out well, even this upcoming year. Like Miers and Duursma last year, he has picked up young, talented break-out chances like Braeden Campbell and Kai Lohmann. Last year’s finals run may have felt a bit flukey, but there’s every chance the Chiefs steer clear of the bottom four again.
First Pick
With pick 5 in the draft, they took the player that went number 1 in the AFL draft. Sam Lalor looks great, projects as a mainstay in Richmond’s team for 15 years from round 1 this year. He’s a great draftee, amidst many other great draftees.
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On the whole, I really like the Chiefs draft. For their list profile and their draft picks, I think their philosophy was sound and their selections were good. Jacob van Rooyen at 49 was one that felt like a reach though. At the risk of making you think of black kettles and pots given I have Sam Darcy, Charlie Curnow and Jeremy Cameron, I argue that key forwards are unreliable and risky in fantasy. Van Rooyen looks a really good player, but will it translate to fantasy success? Coach Buscumb thinks so.
Tasty Slider
Two sliders jump off the draft sheet. Taj Hotton at 15 is a great get. Yes, he’s injured. But you pick a draftee with more than the next 5 months in mind. He was a top 8 prospect for mine, so fantastic value. Toby Conway is the other one. I was going to happily select him at 46, but Mark swooped at 45 – my biggest “nooo” moment from the draft. Coach Buscumb has a good record with his cats too. Max Holmes has looked a pig-in-waiting, Gryan Miers became a top 10 forward and Conway looms as a long-term success story if the cards fall his way.
Coming Home
Ben Ainsworth has played for half the league and has been cut more than he has been kept. Throughout the journey, he keeps winding up playing for the Puttanesca Chiefs. Ben Ainsworth is currently 7th in Chiefs games played. He gets to add to that now. Love it. Coach Buscumb also reinvested in Phoenix Gothard with the 165th pick. Exactly the kind of reunion encouraged late in the draft. Brodie Smith wound up in Puttanesca last year and he finds himself there again with the 195th pick.
Piqued My Interest
The general trend was young. But the two most noteworthy exceptions in this draft happened to play the same position at the same club. Both Josh Battle and Tom Barrass joined the club, and Mark will be hoping that Hawthorn’s newest recruits perform admirably for both the hawks and the chiefs.