2026 Draft Thread

[Tommy_Wolfe7]

My final, beat the late mail, mock draft dropped this morning at:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/11/12/2026-afl-mock-draft-v4-0/

Sydney landed: Arki Butler, Mason McGroder, Will Antrobus & Lachlan Hicks

Write up, links to draft chats and access to my final top 50 power ranking all found through the link.

That’ll be it from me on this year’s cohort. Will review the actual draft and discuss the players and picks, as well as answer any questions here (and probably get into way too many ‘conversations’ on my social channels, haha).

We’re only a couple of weeks away from starting the cycle again with names to watch in 2027 and then back to regular weekly articles on more general footy stuff (including a season preview series).

Thanks for all the support. Genuinely appreciate it and all the footy conversations we’ve had.?

[Auntie.Gerald]

Arki makes sense. Fairly elite user of the ball forward mid.

McGroder is a real tough one as to where he drops but I’m guessing we have made a strong commitment to draft him.

Will Antrobus moves the ball similar to Marty Robert’s and similar height weight role. I’m just not sure we need that type of player?

After that hard to say but Hicks is a bit of a goer.

We didn’t take anyone in the delisted FA period early Nov? Which surprised me this off season.

interesting times ahead

• AFL National Draft: November 19–20, 2026 (clubs can select or re-draft players).

• AFL Pre-Season and Rookie Drafts: Monday, November 23, 2026 (at 3:00 pm AEDT).

• Pre-Season Supplemental Selection Period (SSP): December 2026 – March 2027 (clubs with remaining list vacancies can sign players or invite them to train).

?

[Auntie.Gerald]

the 3 standout out KPDs

https://www.foxsports.com.au/en-AU/news/australian-rules-football/mystery-afl-draft-logjam-could-spark-10-pick-frenzy-as-trios-landing-spots-loom/ocn6mavwv4rc1obikwc6roqjg

[KSAS]

My final, beat the late mail, mock draft dropped this morning at:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/11/12/2026-afl-mock-draft-v4-0/

Sydney landed: Arki Butler, Mason McGroder, Will Antrobus & Lachlan Hicks

Write up, links to draft chats and access to my final top 50 power ranking all found through the link.

That’ll be it from me on this year’s cohort. Will review the actual draft and discuss the players and picks, as well as answer any questions here (and probably get into way too many ‘conversations’ on my social channels, haha).

We’re only a couple of weeks away from starting the cycle again with names to watch in 2027 and then back to regular weekly articles on more general footy stuff (including a season preview series).

Thanks for all the support. Genuinely appreciate it and all the footy conversations we’ve had.?

Thanks for your in depth contributions Tommy. Appreciated your expert analysis from a non Swans perspective.

I'd be staggered (but elated) if Arki was still available with our first pick as he's been widely tipped to go top 5. It seems alot will depend on who Melbourne selects before us on whether Harris or a slider becomes available.

If we miss out on Harris, it does makes sense to me we select a general defender with one of our later picks. McGroder being our prime KPD selection which i hope his bid does land around that pick 36 which we can match.

if we miss out on Harris, wonder if there's a chance we'll split our first pick (sliding to 8) to possibly to get one of Snell or Bradley plus also increasing our matching power for McGroder should his bid come early? Not sure if any club who has the hand or reason to do so. I would rather we take a slider with our first pick than using it on Snell.

But time will be the judge on how wisely we drafted, as i'm sure there'll be lots of debates initially!