00:00perfect now before we wrap up the show we want to talk 2025 draft class obviously last year we
00:05followed the crop very closely uh throughout the course of the year all the way to the combination
00:10of the draft itself and we're now what 12 13 games into here we are into the season it's giving
00:17us a
00:17pretty good idea on on how some of the the boys are performing uh early into their afl careers
00:23seems like rising starch out of twos is getting bigger every week given how some might say the
00:28race is quite close some are pretty favored with with who they think is going to take it out but
00:32um class as a whole we knew it was going to be an interesting bag of of prospects coming through
00:37you know a lot of club tied and part of those systems a lot came quite late uh as draft
00:42rises
00:42and we're going to be quite interested to see how or what kind of immediate impact they would have
00:46i think of the the top 10 i think eight have debuted i want to say eight um and then
00:51unfortunately dan
00:52annable being one that's been struck down by injury but we've gotten a good look at the top few uh
00:56and
00:57a lot of later picks as well uh i've been able to make their mark i just want to know
01:01who's probably
01:01been the biggest surprise what's been a pleasant surprise um for you so far this year from the 2025
01:07draft class uh i'll give you two so for me the the biggest surprise has been actually a mid-season
01:15pickup in cooper trend bath so i'll include him yeah obviously yes he's technically 2025 draft class but
01:21he's also rising star eligible so worth including him in this discussion um he yeah obviously playing
01:28as a forward for north melbourne particularly through those early rounds uh continued on that
01:32strong form he showed last year and i think what was impressive was yes he did it last year but
01:36the
01:36conditioning and some of the things that have improved around the goal kicking um has been really
01:41really important for north melbourne playing his second or third fiddle and he looks like one that's
01:45going to develop into a real prospect for them and then yeah the other one is probably um
01:52probably harry dean like i didn't expect him to yeah as a key position player as tough as he was
01:58last year and as impressive as he was last year i don't think you're ever expecting a key position
02:02player to come into an afl system particularly at a club that you know they're having to endure not
02:09so much in the last month but they're having to endure in that first eight weeks of the season
02:13and lots of inside 50 entries and he was one that stood tall and copped a barrage and was and
02:18has been
02:18able to really start to forge a really strong reputation and i think a lot of people would
02:23have him in their top three top five the rising star so far this year yeah he was one of
02:28mine for
02:28sure um with i saw him as the best 23 player coming into the year but but the role he's
02:33taken on in the
02:34seniorities and particularly the last two weeks with no jacob wetering yeah um he has had a fantastic
02:38fortnight to add to a very promising first 10 or so weeks um in what has been a certainly some
02:44tricky circumstances at carlton and then yeah like you said they don't have the best support carlton's
02:49defense with how many inside 50s they do leak uh from that midfield group so under fire all the time
02:55is harry and um he's really stood tall so we might get into some rising star top fives also in
03:00a sec but
03:00the other another key position player i thought cooper duff tyler um again while being one of the top
03:05picks wasn't necessarily seen as an immediate asset um as someone who's going to have an immediate
03:10impact we know the upsides there and with where the west coast lists that we knew he'd get some game
03:15time um but i think some of the things he still he's been able to prove quite quickly uh at
03:20afl level
03:20has been a big tick and another one as well is the rise of sullivan robey like we saw it
03:24throughout
03:25last year um and when he gets to afl level we weren't too sure where that would take him immediately
03:31uh he has an interrupted pre-season which mind you is his first real window in a high performance
03:37environment given where he came from last year uh after joining the eastern rangers quite late and
03:42he would have to be uh on many people's top fives for a rising star race now let's get into
03:50maybe who you might have leading that race i've certainly got willem dersman i think it's honestly
03:54daylight between him and the next one now i want to credit jagger smith as the number two in that
03:59uh who i think he's been really hard done by with some of the expectations been put on him and
04:04and
04:04what he's been able to put forward he had a brilliant start he might have dropped off a
04:07little bit but he's worked it that way back and i think he deserves to be probably in that number
04:11two spot as things currently stand and then if you want to probably the other three names in what
04:16would be a top five i'd have dean gothard and robey maybe in no particular order yeah but they're the
04:21three and obviously gothard's been in the system for a few years and uh had some injury troubles but yeah
04:26he's
04:26been electric for for gws in the absence of guys like darcy jones and brett daniels and he's really
04:32stood tall as a it's a high impact um half forward so yeah they're probably the five i would have
04:38but
04:38yeah willem dersman for me is is quite comfortably at the rising star yeah so for me it would be
04:42willem
04:43dersman comfortably as well and what's been impressive about him is particularly as west coast have gotten
04:47more competitive in recent weeks have played some close games this year fourth quarter game on the line
04:52some players that are young struggle to run out four quarters yeah he seizes the moment when the
04:56game's on the line he's already that player that west coast looked to as that barometer so that's
05:00been just ultra impressive and the overhead ability is has been something else that i didn't necessarily
05:05think we'd see so early in his afl career for me it's him for me for me sullivan robey's shot
05:10up to
05:10second spot so yeah i think that's how impressed i've been with what he's done um other players yeah that
05:16i'd have in the meat mix um you mentioned phoenix gothard he's definitely um right there or there
05:21abouts i'd also put jacob farrow in there i've been really impressed with what he's done as a clean
05:26clean ball using halfback for essendon and sam grill as well for richmond um so they'd probably be
05:32the way i'd go with um yeah dean and trim bath yeah can definitely throw them in too so that's
05:37sort
05:37of the five or six names i'd have yeah and as you mentioned grill and you can add sam coming
05:42patty
05:42reshko as well in that mix of the tigers have had to blood a lot of talent um no robert
05:46thompson
05:47another tom burton another but um yeah coming reshko and grill have also shown through maturity
05:53worth bringing up jack eisen he's not in the race probably hasn't played enough footy but geez he's
05:57straight away excitement machine yeah didn't take him any time at all to adjust to afl level yeah it
06:01looks really comfortable at vfl and then it comes up to afl and just looks just looks so confident in
06:05the way he's going about things so yeah the blues have relied on a lot of talent while not really
06:09having injury issues this year and uh it's meant that some guys are getting picked on form uh to
06:14an extent so that's been that's been really good to see and jack's obviously earned those uh few games
06:19and he's probably not going to be coming out of that side given the form we have seen early into
06:22the form we have seen early into his afl career
06:24you
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