With two older brothers and an older sister already in the AFL system, Willem Duursma has witnessed – and been central to – his fair share of club recruiter interviews.
But one memory stands out from them all.
Duursma was at the Foster family home ahead of the arrival of then-West Coast Eagles recruiter Rohan O’Brien, who was in town to interview Zane Duursma ahead of the 2023 draft.
O’Brien was driving up the narrow driveway towards the house before his front wheel slipped off the path and into some mud. Thick mud.
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The setback, literally, stopped O’Brien’s car. But it didn’t stop the interview.
“He (O’Brien) accidentally got the car bogged!” Willem Duursma tells foxfooty.com.au with a laugh.
“Dad had to get some of the teachers from school to come help get him out of the driveway while the interview was happening. So they got the car out for him – it was pretty funny.
“And it turns out that one of the teachers that got him out was a really big Eagles fan. So he had to get looked after with a couple of tickets.”
Willem Duursma and Zane Duursma playing together in 2023. Picture: Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
It’s a light-hearted player reflection on the AFL club interview process, which can be an intimidating event for prospects. After seeing older siblings Xavier, Yasmin and Zane all deal with the meeting experience during their draft years, Willem has gone through it all himself in 2025.
“I think the more interviews you have, the more prepared you are for them,” possible Pick 1 Duursma says.
“It’s been pretty nice experiencing all the different questions. They’re all pretty similar, but I think the more confident you are going into those interviews to answer their questions directly, the better you are for it.”
There’s Zoom calls and home visits in the middle of the season. Then there’s the structured, more formal catch-ups at the AFL draft combine where clubs set up in corporate boxes around the MCG and sit across the table from players.
First-round prospect Sam Cumming reckons he had 16 club interviews in the first two days at the combine.
“At first, it’s definitely pretty daunting, especially when you’ve got an Adem Yze (Richmond) or a Connor Idun (GWS Giants) looking across from you,” Cumming tells foxfooty.com.au. “It’s all part of the process.
“It’s not too bad. I guess you get used to it at some point.”
Sam Cumming of South Australia. Picture: Jason McCawley/AFL Photos/via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
The key, for top-10 prospects like Dylan Patterson and Sam Grlj, is to embrace the conversation – for the simple reality is clubs just want to get to know players better.
“You present yourself to the best of your ability each time and I think it is challenging, but I really enjoy it,” Grlj tells foxfooty.com.au.
“Why should I shy away from it when I want to do this for a living? So I might as well embrace it.”
That is, though, easier said than done when scouts reach out to prospects for the first time.
Central District forward Aidan Schubert remembers being next to his mum at home when he received a text from a club requesting an interview. He “was just so happy”, describing it as “one of the best moments and feelings”.
The interview that followed, however, didn’t go to his liking.
“I didn’t think I did too well,” Schubert tells foxfooty.com.au. “I was thinking about it for the next week because it was my first club and it was a dream to have a club come to my house
“I was just so nervous. When they pull out the video camera and everything like that, that’s when it really hits.”
At least the recruiters left the Schubert house well fed.
“Mum’s huge on that (catering). Every club that’s come has had pinwheels, cookies – she loves it,” he says with a smile.
“She likes treating them. She’s a good cook!”
While every club’s questioning differs slightly, the interviews are reasonably similar across the board.
Aidan Schubert of Central District. Picture: James Elsby/SANFLSource: Supplied
Although, as there is every year, there’s the odd curly question that forces prospects to think a bit longer and deeper.
“I was asked by Carlton: ‘If your house was on fire and you only had three items to take, what are you taking?’ I said my phone and my laptop – because I don’t really want to replace them, it’s a bit of a hassle – and also my golf clubs – because I don’t want to have to replace them either,” Duursma says.
A common one, as Eastern Ranges duo Sullivan Robey and Lachy Dovaston both experienced, is: What’s something no one else knows about you that we should know?
“I don’t even know that!” Dovaston tells foxfooty.com.au.
“I was also asked if I’d found $500 on the ground what I’d go spend with it.”
Top Gold Coast Suns academy chance Zeke Uwland remembers being left puzzled about one particular question.
“Someone asked: ‘What’s something that you did for someone that you got no benefit from?’ How are you supposed to answer that?” he tells foxfooty.com.au.
“Even if you’re helping someone you’re going to benefit because you feel good.”
Sandringham Dragons forward Archie Ludowyke was somewhat caught off-guard by a reasonably straightforward one.
“Probably the main one – although it was so simple, it was so hard to answer – was just like: ‘What would be one trait that you’d change in yourself to become a better person?’ It was so different that it’s so hard to answer,” Ludowyke tells foxfooty.com.au.
“I think I said just my leadership and communication outside of footy, as well as inside of footy, just reaching out to mates and seeing how they are.”
Top WA chance Jacob Farrow, who’s met every club except Gold Coast, was asked by Richmond to nominate the craziest thing he’d ever done.
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“They stumped me, so I was there for a bit thinking,” he tells foxfooty.com.au.
“I said probably doing a backflip off a high wall and nearly cracking my head open.”
Murray Bushrangers defender Harry Dean hasn’t had as many interviews this season due to him being tied to Carlton as a father-son selection – a reality one club boldly explored on the first day of the combine.
“I got put on the spot in the first interview by a club (on the Friday),” Dean tells foxfooty.com.au.
“They said: ‘What are your intentions getting out of these next couple of days, knowing that you’re a father-son to Carlton?’
“I just had to think about it, it put me on the spot a fair bit, it was a hard question to answer.”
Fellow club-tied player Louis Kellaway – a Richmond father-son prospect – was asked by Fremantle which Dockers player he “would kick off the list”.
“(It) was a little bit weird,” Kellaway tells foxfooty.com.au.
“I talked around it … I just said I’d slot into the midfield well with (Caleb) Serong and (Andrew) Brayshaw.
“That was a tough question to answer.”
Andrew Brayshaw of the Dockers. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
Woodville-West Torrens prospect Jevan Phillipou claims he hadn’t had any “weird” questions from clubs. But there’d been some unique experiences.
“I’ve had a few where I’ve had to analyse vision,” Phillipou tells foxfooty.com.au. “They play a clip and ask what I’ve picked up on. I had a case study where they asked me what I would do in a situation. What would my initial reaction be and how would I handle it?
“I also had to interview someone from Carlton. I had to interview them first for two minutes. I had to pick someone in the room and interview them. It was pretty cool, I got to be on the other side of it.
“I asked: ‘What drives you in life or what gives you purpose in life?’ I went pretty serious, I didn’t muck around. I asked him what he looks for in players, what catches the eye straight away – those sort of questions, to get to know him as a person on a deeper level and then to know what’s in a recruiter’s mind.”