The AFL Draft is set to take place from Wednesday 19 November with several local prospects in line to join an AFL club.
The first round will take place at Marvel Stadium on Wednesday, with the remainder of the picks to be taken on Thursday evening.
The rookie and pre-season drafts will take place on Friday afternoon.
There are anticipated to be roughly 55-60 players selected in the national draft.
Gippsland Power dynamo Willem Duursma is widely anticipated to be snapped up at pick one by the West Coast Eagles, having established himself as the best player of the draft class as an athletic utility with the potential to develop into a Marcus Bontempelli-type midfielder.
In an extended feature last week, Duursma spoke of his openness to play for any club regardless of location and how comfortable he is with the likely pick-one tag.
Duursma’s Gippsland Power captain Tom Matthews is some chance of being selected late in the national draft with his pressure viewed as a point-of-difference as a front and centre small forward.
It’s understood that he has spoken to seven clubs after being unable to put his best foot forward this season due to a knee injury, which resulted in him missing essentially the entire second half of 2025.
Tall utility Jonah Walker and Morrish Medal winning midfielder Brodie Atkins are other players to have spoken to AFL clubs.
Harry Scott, a midfielder who graduated from Gippsland Power in 2023 and has since plied his trade for Richmond VFL, is also some chance of being selected after an impressive 2025 season, however industry sources suggest he is more likely to be selected in the supplemental selection period.
Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves is the leading prospect from Dandenong, with the x-factor talent and Stingrays co-captain viewed by many as a first round prospect, with Essendon, Hawthorn, Fremantle and West Coast among the clubs to have registered interest.
Midfielder Cal Smith, key forward Tairon Ah-Mu, Melbourne Next Generation Academy prospect Toby Sinnema and Haileybury pair Jack Lawrence and Louis Hodder are others to have attracted varying levels of attention throughout 2025, but all are viewed as less likely to be selected.
Every local to have nominated for the AFL Draft: Tairon Ah-Mu, Tyson Anic, Brodie Atkins, Jack Behnck, Miller Bergman, Jesse Bills, Josh Bradley, Lachie Bryce, Yianni Caffieri, Luke Cheffers, Lachlan Commons, Paddy Cross, Cooper Cullen, Willem Duursma, Sam Grummisch, Quinn Harvey, Hayden Hessels, Louis Hodder, Goy Jiath, Hukam Karir, Mitch Kirkwood-Scott, Marcus Krasnadamskis, Jack Lawrence, Archie Le Clerc, Max Lee, Damien Leslie, Sam Lewis, Oscar Lonie, Liam Masters, Tom Matthews, Keegan Mountford, Zach O’Keefe, Luka Pecer, Jobe Scapin, Jordan Shields, Toby Sinnema, Callum Smith, Mitch Stevens, Harry Tatterson, Jay-De Varlet, Jonah Walker, Ollie Wilson, Max Woodall, Noah Yze, Sam Toner, Jasper Russell, Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves, Tom Hose, Charlie Orchard
