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Craft of the Draft AFL name the 2027 prospects who could be in the sights of the new Tasmania Devils franchise. Get the full episode on the Zero Hanger YouTube and podcast feed!
Transcript
00:00the 2027 draft we are um we do we've been that we've done our emerging excellence just about
00:04every week uh up until this week and just highlighting some of the top performers for
00:09next year's count and some of the best bottom majors of this year um just given it's going to
00:13be one of the more fascinating drafts given the arrival of tasmania before we get into some of
00:17the names you've got which you've put uh probably the top 12 together it doesn't for 2027 that the
00:24group as a whole the class as a whole is looking really strong and i think there's
00:28a belief among some afl clubs that uh when i first know that tazzy's coming in that there's
00:34going to be issues with the draft and the access to talent but i think there is a growing confidence
00:38that the the class as a whole is going to back quite deep yes and if you are going to
00:43have one
00:43of those top picks or even a late first round pick that you still might be getting access to
00:47a really good prospect even though tazzy's going to have um those selections toward the top of the
00:51queue and we still know that they have to trade a lot of those so it's not going to be
00:55this eight
00:56out of the first 12 picks um like we saw with gold coast and gws and uh that a lot
01:01of afl clubs will
01:02get access to what is looking like a really good draft class yeah absolutely and i think what
01:06underlines that is you you could you could throw someone like a max thompson or a jake miller into
01:12this year's draft class and you'd be pretty comfortable picking them up um based off the
01:17output they've already had at talent league level and i mean you talk about kobe buick too
01:21yes he's been sidelined this year same as actual axel walsh but they've got such runs on the board
01:26and you look at the upside that they've got so that probably gives you an indication of how
01:31strong this though next year's crop is going to be and i think it's one that we've been looking
01:35forward to for some time or since the under-16s champs there's always probably a level of buzz about
01:40the under-16s champs around the strength of the crop that's going to come in two years but this one
01:46feels real and it feels like there is um significant you know players who are able to
01:52perform players who have got traits but then what's been really pleasing is if you look at
01:56some of the players that make my top 12 there's a couple there that didn't take part yeah in that
02:01under-16s national champs that they've been able to put their names on the map after being injured last
02:06year so yeah it's it's uh it's an exciting class with variety yeah how do you want to how do
02:12you want to
02:13go through these 12 names no particular order order yeah um yeah we can run through them one by
02:17one i guess give a snappy overview of each yeah so axel walsh was one of the top performers at
02:22the
02:2216s champs last year for wwa and he's found some great form obviously in some rep footy as a bottom
02:28major a towering ruckman who can also play a little behind play behind the ball and as a
02:33marketing forward as we saw last year too um has overcome that injury and yeah he's he's looking like
02:39a real perfect kind of piece if you want to talk in a tassie sense in building a list a
02:43ruckman of
02:44his calibers is quite promising no absolutely um harvey chapman is another one that makes the list
02:49so south australian key defender we're talking a lot about south australian key defenders today but um
02:54yeah he's yeah 195 centimeters now what his point of difference is is it's not just the mark and the
02:59athleticism but he uses the footy really really well to set up the game so yeah one of south australia's
03:04league prospects next year uh jet flower one we've spoken about a little bit already this year given
03:09what he's been able to do for the eastern range it's just a calm and classy midfielder who real
03:14damaging front half option hard working uh off the ball as well and uh obviously what we'll get
03:19talked about a lot is there's the grandson of melbourne great robbie flower but obviously that means
03:23no connection or ties to the d's uh outside of just the name so no father son bit unfortunately d's
03:29fans
03:29but uh obviously a great name to to follow over the next 18 months yeah for sure um cooper french
03:35gws academy he's rising he's had a great start to the season i think we talked about ethan matthews
03:40before and he's been in great form for gws's academy cooper french not far behind him uh he'll
03:45get i wouldn't be surprised if he gets midfield minutes for the allies this year he's one going
03:49to be one of their leading playmakers he'll play off half forward as well and has blistering speed
03:53so yeah uh a prototype forward mid type of player for tassie to consider and other clubs as well
04:00towards the top end pastor shrug good to see him yeah back in fine form after obviously a delayed
04:05start through injury was uh picked up a nice title at the under 16s uh for vic metro and uh
04:11since adding
04:11to eastern rangers uh midfield group as a bottom major he's been on fire was another 30 and two on
04:16the weekend uh for him and and he's tackling was great as well we're out there watching that game and
04:21um
04:21yeah and a big tick for him so we're hoping to see what we've seen from backstack because we
04:25weren't too sure given obviously the injury and the delay and time off he's had um so yeah he's
04:30he's looking like a really good one just physical and and just an absolute menace of the contest
04:34yeah jake miller another one we know yeah he'd be right towards the pointy end top two or three i
04:39think at this stage we've known that for 12 months he was so good at the under 16s champs and
04:45has been
04:45a consistent pillar for the western jets when he's played for them had a few quieter weeks for
04:50brighton grammar but he gets so much attention at schoolboy level they double team him triple team
04:54him he did kick the five goals on the weekend so good to see him return to form but um
04:58yeah his
04:58work right i think direct opponents will play it on him always talk about how hard he works and um
05:02he's obviously got the strong dukes as well so josh tracy type um uh maxim collins out of west
05:08perth the big russian uh high 190 centimeter key defenders played a little bit of key forward for
05:12for the wa uh trials period as well and he was one of the names that didn't play at uh
05:18last year's uh
05:19under 16s just due to a hairline fracture uh in his ankle and he's looking as like one of the
05:25top
05:25rated key position talents um i think he was best done for the falcons colt side in their first two
05:30games and you pair him with ty barraclaw another bottom major uh over at the falcons and yeah those
05:36two have been a big force but he's a big one to watch for tazzy in particular yeah for sure
05:40oscar
05:40henwood another one who didn't play at the 16s champs last year due to a syndesmosis injury we've talked a
05:46fair bit about him across the early part of the season midfield forward with a lot of poise great
05:51finishing ability too and clean skills so yeah he keeps on keeping on in give sign powers midfield
05:57uh james pilot who is port adelaide tied yes and yeah prospect uh i think he's going to miss most
06:03of
06:04or at least missing the champs with that knee surgery that he required earlier this year but another one
06:08who what we got to see at the under 16s champs was uh was very promising as a standout has
06:13already had that
06:14size play can play forward he had a what 27 and 9 game last year for for the 16s i
06:20think panthers so
06:21uh yeah his form across several levels and getting that under 18s look late last year as well was
06:26was also good to see so another one who unfortunately will spend time out through injury but uh the upside
06:32is that uh we've seen plenty of of what we hope we'll get to see next year yeah for sure
06:37um moving on
06:39to max thompson can play off half back and play as a small 40 probably projects as a small four
06:44but
06:44it's good that he's had that positional flexibility for bendigo this year um we'll see him feature at
06:50the under 18s national champs and he's one who has a dynamic skill set he isn't 180 centimeters
06:57and he's 178 179 but um he yeah he's electric he knows how to make things happen whether it's off
07:03halfback creating chaos on turnover or yeah probably more naturally at the fall of ball inside 50. yeah
07:09as you know arguably my favorite among this class is mac thompson max thompson after what we saw at the
07:1516s last year and what he's been doing for bendigo has been fantastic kobe buick a big name for the
07:202027
07:21draft class given his ties to essendon as a father son playing a lot of deep uh defensive football obviously
07:27getting uh plenty of it down there and being a key accumulator uh across the back line for for the
07:31colder cannons but as we know can move through midfield has a nice weighted kick on him and
07:36just a real smart user of the ball so he's one that essendon fans are going to get really excited
07:40for
07:41and uh yeah he's going to be really exciting one to watch uh at the champs is one of two
07:45bottom ages
07:45for vic metro who will uh who will touch on in a second as well absolutely and then jake beams
07:50to
07:50round out the list of tasmanian we had to include a tasmanian didn't we but um no he gets in
07:54on his own
07:54merit he's a lethal kicking defender and has been racking up great numbers and uh impacting greatly for
08:00tassie across the early part of the season he'll form an important part of the allies and played
08:05a really strong allies trial match on saturday as well speaking of tassie if you are tassie list
08:11manager if you're derek heine if you're in that group and you you want to get your five early
08:15seven ends list additions uh assuming you're picking from this group who would you like to kind of build
08:20if you got access to five obviously maybe put the club tie boys to the side it probably narrows it
08:25a
08:25little bit uh happy for you to pick off that list as um outside of that list as well but
08:29who's your
08:29who's your five yeah well the five that come to mind would be axel walsh is a definite um jake
08:36miller
08:36is a definite max thompson is definite i'd probably put kobe buick in there and i reckon harvey
08:43chapman gets into yeah okay like you said the first three i would lock in walsh miller thompson i'll
08:50take maxim collins and i'll throw baxter shrug in there just given a lot of those boys are club
08:56tight aren't they him or oscar henwood but probably lean towards baxter shrug gives you a good mix
09:00of tools max thompson brings some versatility and baxter shrug ever reliable in midfield so there you
09:06go there are some of the leading names to watch for next year's draft and uh a lot of them
09:11will be
09:11featuring across the the champs as well which yeah they will to see
09:20so
09:20so
09:20so
09:21so
09:21You
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