General footy chat 2026 Draft Thread

[Tommy_Wolfe7]

I couldn't find a dedicated draft thread. Mods - please feel free to delete or merge this if there is a better place.


Given the draft is something I know and love, thought I’d start a thread to discuss all things underage footy.

If you haven’t seen it yet, the FootyStuff channel on YouTube is a great resource. Just a bloke in his home in New Zealand, cutting and editing game packages of the best junior prospects. You can check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/@footystuffYT/

Its’s not my channel, but I love his stuff and it’s a great resource for draft content!


I’m also covering the draft on my platforms throughout the year, so if you’ve got any questions, please feel free to ask! Plenty of draft (any other AFL) content at:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/

This week I did a couple of video shows (for the Richmond fan show Tigercast and the SotaramAFL YouTube show). I'll link the videos below through the article write ups I've done for each.

The Tigercast episode is a discussion around my current top 30 prospects, so it's more a draft show than a Tigers show.

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/07/29/tigercast-mid-week-live/

SotaramAFL has designed a pretty awesome draft simulator and list analyser app (which is free to use via his linked pages). He and I ran through a very early phantom draft to show of the impact of the new bid matching rules, his app and my thoughts on the draft pool combined with club needs.

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/07/30/very-early-phantom-draft-simulation/

Obviously happy to answer any questions, but they're both worth a view if you're a draft fan and have some spare time.?

[Tommy_Wolfe7]

I've put together a very early and deliberately speculative 2026 AFL Mock Draft, completing the first two rounds.

The important bit is that this isn't really intended to be a serious prediction of where every player will land in November. There are still months of football, list changes, free agency, trades and compensation decisions to come.

The main purpose is to explore how the AFL's new bid-matching rules, along with some specualtive trade/free agency moves could actually affect the draft order.

Sydney's starting pick #37 becomes #38, and I had the Swans taking:


Pick #38: Sydney – Lochie Burrows

Burrows has strong form as a rebounding defender, but his coaches see him as a damaging forward-mid. Has power, competitiveness and skill. The Swans have a strong list. Adding Burrows gives depth and upside.
Other Options: Phillips is another balanced mid-forward type, while Templeton and Watkins add x-factor and toughness forward of centre.
?
You can read the full article exploring the way the draft is impacted by rules and pick movement at:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/08/05/2026-afl-mock-draft-v1-0/

[lwjoyner]

noter
McGroger runs 2nd in under 20 worlds. a big decion he has on his hands, afl or athletics

[Tommy_Wolfe7]

For anyone interested (feel free to ignore), my second last power rankings for the year dropped yesterday. There will be a couple more mock drafts pre and post trade period, and then a final mock a week out from the draft.

Current power ranking is at:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/09/07/2026-top-50-draft-power-rankings-v4-0/

More than happy to field questions or hear your thoughts here.

[Tommy_Wolfe7]

The teams in this article were an exercise in projection. They're not made up of necessarily the best performed U18 players of 2026 - they're made up of the players I project to be the best by position from this year's U18 pool, set out in a B23 and Reserves team. Gives a bit of insight into who I rate per position long term.

I'm struggling to post the teams here (will try below in separate posts). You can see the teams and read my rationale in the article linked here:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/09/13/2026-u18-all-australian-team/

Otherwise, as always, happy to discuss here.