There’s less than three weeks to go until the 2026 AFL national draft.
Here’s the latest news and mail about some of the top prospects from around the country.
WHO SHOULD YOUR CLUB PICK? WE REVEAL OUR MOCK DRAFT HERE.
THE CLUBS WHO TOP PROSPECTS SUPPORT
Being drafted to any AFL club is a dream come true.
But being selected by the club you grew up supporting – well, that is extra special.
Many of this year’s top draft prospects are right in the frame to join their childhood heroes, in a pool boasting plenty of support for three of Melbourne’s ‘Big Four’ clubs.
A survey of 39 draft prospects uncovered eight Collingwood supporters, six Essendon fans and four Richmond fanatics.
Expected Essendon targets Ethan Drever and Arki Butler have both grown up Bombers fans.
Drever’s father had him in an Essendon jumper while he was still in hospital when he was born, with the 18-year-old having a little extra spring in his step when meeting the club this year.
“Obviously being a supporter, it’s exciting when I meet them,” Drever.
Butler has had similar feelings and has pictured himself in an Essendon jumper next year.
“It’s obviously something I’ve thought about,” he said.
“There’d be a little bit of meaning behind it. But at the end of the day I’d be absolutely stoked to just be on an AFL list and be able to call a club home, whoever that may be.”
Sam Gayfer and Wil Malady – who are potential targets at Collingwood’s first pick – are both Magpies fans.
Malady was in the stands at the MCG for the club’s Wildcard Round loss to the Western Bulldogs in late August.
Gus Kennedy has attracted some interest from the Brisbane Lions, who he watched win the 2025 Grand Final at the MCG after playing in the earlier Under-17 Futures match.
Unsurprisingly, Port Adelaide Next Generation Academy member Dougie Cochrane is a mad Power supporter, the club for whom his father Stuart played.
“I love watching Port,” Cochrane said.
“Hopefully one day it’ll be good to put on those colours if everything goes to plan.”
Some first-round picks did land at their childhood clubs in last year’s draft, including Sullivan Robey and Dyson Sharp who were both lifelong Essendon supporters.
TOP-10 TARGETS SET FOR MAKE-UP TEST
The AFL is planning to run a make-up 2km time trial for some of this year’s top draft prospects who sat out testing at the national draft combine.
Multiple clubs with high-end picks are believed to have pushed for the move, which could see 2km time trials held in both Melbourne and Adelaide on the weekend of November 7 and 8 for a small number of players.
Top-10 prospects Arki Butler (hamstring) and Gus Teixeira (foot) were among those to miss testing at the national combine due to short-term injury issues.
Butler has been linked to Essendon, West Coast, Richmond and Melbourne, while Teixeira also has strong interest inside the top 10 and has also been invited to attend the first night of the national draft on November 19.
HOW BLUES MISSED ON BOLTER
Once a Carlton-tied prospect, Toby Krasna remembers his time at Ikon Park fondly — but the Blues didn’t remember him so well.
A proud Cudgingburra man, his clan hailing from the Tweed Heads region of northern New South Wales, Krasna was part of the Blues’ Next Generation Academy back in under-16s.
There he joined the likes of Jack Ison, a 2025 Carlton NGA draftee, on the track every second Monday.
“I would train with them. But then they (Ison and others) would normally stay inside and do recovery and stuff, and they’d do gym and recovery and maybe even get a massage,” Krasna said.
“They were ‘proper’ NGA, but I would go out and just run around with all the little fellas.
“I looked forward to it every time Monday came around.”
Back then Krasna wasn’t so highly touted, but a breakout 2026 campaign with the Northern Knights and Vic Metro has seen the smooth-moving wingman bolt into first-round calculations.
Midway through this year, Krasna toured the familiar surrounds of Princes Park and spilt the beans.
“I had a meeting with them, middle of the year I went to the club,” Krasna explained.
“I told them, because they were giving me a tour of the facilities. I was like, ‘Oh I should probably tell you I was NGA here for two years’.
“They looked really confused and surprised. But I think whatever’s happened, happened.”
Krasna’s NGA zone ended up changing from Carlton to Collingwood ahead of the 2026 season, but he never headed down to the Pies given he wouldn’t have been eligible.
Northern Knights coach Anthony Rocca summed up his rise to this masthead earlier this week: “If you would have told me two and half years ago that Toby Krasna was going to be a first-round pick., I’d probably laugh at you.”
While Krasna’s dropout from the NGA program looks a big miss for Carlton, it would have been difficult for the Blues to secure him alongside father-son gun Cody Walker anyway given his rise.
Krasna has plenty of fans, with all but one club interviewing him across the year.
A surfer like his father Steffan, who finished fourth in the Over 50s division at the 13th Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles at Bells Beach this year, Toby has a laconic way about him.
But he definitely puts in the hard yards, as his blistering 6min 9sec 2km time trial at the national draft combine proved.
And while he doesn’t qualify as an NGA prospect, he still wants to be role model for First Nations footballers.
“I’m so excited to hopefully get drafted and be an Indigenous player that Indigenous boys can look up to,” Krasna said.
DONS PACKAGE DEAL?
If Essendon selects Ethan Drever with the No.1 pick in this year’s draft, could the Bombers also find a spot for his best mate?
Drever and fellow Greater Western Victoria Rebels product Archie Elliott are very close and would both offer something different to Essendon.
Drever is a 189cm Finn Callaghan-type midfielder dynamo, while Elliott is a 182cm marking forward who has been likened to Collingwood’s Jamie Elliott.
“He’s boarding at St. Pat’s (College). He came across from Horsham a couple years ago and we’ve become strong mates,” Drever said of Elliott.
“He’s obviously had an awesome year as well this year with the Rebels.
“We train together a fair bit and then if we have a home game, he’ll stay at mine the night before and we prep together, which is good. I think he’s probably underrated in my opinion. I think there’s no one else like him in the draft, with his overhead marking and he’s really good in the ground as well. He’s sort of that hybrid forward. So I reckon he’s probably a bit under-hyped at the moment, Arch.”
Elliott started this year as a halfback but was quickly swung forward to great effect.
He finished as the leading goalkicker in the Talent League with 43 majors from 14 matches – including five hauls of four or more goals.
Essendon is set to hold three other top-30 picks in the draft, on top of the No.1 selection.
HVH READY TO GO
Northern Knights coach Anthony Rocca believes Harry Van Hattum could step into an AFL side “pretty early” next year and has likened his leaping abilities to that of former Melbourne ruckman Jeff White.
Van Hattum enjoyed some big highs during 2026, mixed in with some quieter games, but is viewed as a ruckman with enormous potential at the top level.
“He played (AFL) Academy, played Vic Metro, he’s been playing for school and then playing with us at Knights as well,” Rocca said.
“It’s been a big year for him having had four different programs to be a part of. Sometimes that can either hinder or that can have great consistency among your form, but Harry’s had a good year. He’s had a year where he has impacted the scoreboard, his ruck work is pretty good, and his actual follow-up contest work after the ruck work has been a real feature of him this year.”
Some recruiters have questioned the idea of using a top-five selection on a ruckman, but Rocca said such suggestions were misguided.
“If he doesn’t go top-five in the draft, there’s probably something wrong,” Rocca said.
“I see him playing AFL footy pretty early next year.”
Van Hattum finished sixth in the running vertical jump test at the national draft combine with a leap of 95 cm, with former Collingwood champion Rocca likening the 205cm tall’s jump to a former AFL opponent of his.
“I got to test out Jeff White real early,” Rocca said.
“Harry’s bigger than what Jeff White was but has got a leap as well, so he’s a very good prospect.”
Van Hattum is right in the frame for Richmond and Melbourne at the pointy end of the draft order.
MALADY A GAME-CHANGER
At halftime of the Talent League grand final last month, Gippsland Power forward Wil Malady had five disposals and one behind to his name.
His side trailed the Dandenong Stingrays by seven points.
“I found myself pretty down from the first half,” Malady said.
“Obviously I didn’t have much of it and I missed an easy goal going into the half. But at halftime I kind of said to myself, ‘Go back to what you do best’ and went out there with aggression.”
Malady went on to kick three goals in just over three minutes in the third quarter, showing recruiters the type of game-changer he can be.
He finished with five second-half goals as the Power won the premiership with a 35-point triumph.
Measuring 190cm, Malady is an athletic third-tall forward type with lightning speed and perhaps the best set of marking hands in this year’s draft pool.
“Back in juniors I always used to take hangers, or try to at least,” Malady said.
“But I feel like my grabs been always pretty good. I’ve played forward most of the time.”
Malady was also pushed up to a wing at stages this year, but most scouts see him as a pure forward – at least for now.
“My dad and myself have been watching Ollie Dempsey closely, trying to develop that wing role in the future,” Malady said.
“But then down forward I watch Jack Gunston with his smarts around goal and ability to beat his opponent, which is definitely inspirational.”
Originally from Bairnsdale, Malady grew up kicking a footy in the backyard and fishing on the Nicholson River.
“I always go with mum,” Malady said.
“She’s a mad fisherman, so she always beats me in the fishing comp.”
Malady – who has boarded at Caulfield Grammar for his final two years of school – has strong interest within the top 12 picks, including from St Kilda and Collingwood.
INVITES GO OUT FOR NIGHT ONE
The AFL has already invited 13 players to the first night of the draft in a strong indication of which players will be snapped up early in the order.
The seven players recruiters have long viewed as a standout group – Dougie Cochrane, Cody Walker, Ethan Drever, Arki Butler, Gus Teixeira, Harry Van Hattum and Heath Mellody – will all be there at Marvel Stadium on November 19.
So, too, will Ethan Matthews, Caylen Murray, Mitch Harris, Leo Steed, Wil Malady and Sam Gayfer.
Cochrane (Port Adelaide), Walker (Carlton), Matthews (GWS Giants) and Murray (Brisbane Lions) are all club-tied prospects who are expected to receive early rival bids.
More players could be added to the invites in the lead up to the draft as club plans become clearer.
There were 15 players invited to the first night of the draft last year, which saw 25 players selected in the first round.
LATE BLOOMER READY TO ROCK
Jack Slattery nominated for last year’s AFL national draft, despite knowing he was no chance of having his name read out by a club.
“I did nominate, but I was never in the minds of recruiters,” Slattery said.
“I didn’t have any meetings, so I just nominated for the sake of it.
“Even though last year I wasn’t in the draft mindset, it was still a very good year for my footy and another building block towards this year, which is the first time I’ve been seen by recruiters.”
Slattery’s top-age draft year in 2025 was his first in the SANFL talent pathways and while there were some good games for Woodville-West Torrens it wasn’t a ‘pick me’ type of campaign.
But this year has been a different story.
Slattery was approved as an overage player for South Australia’s under-18 national championships campaign and won the side’s MVP award after kicking 16.2 from four matches at the carnival.
The mobile 192cm forward quickly drew comparisons to Brisbane Lions star Logan Morris with his abilities on the lead, in the air and at ground level – as well as his impressive goal sense.
“My output was certainly above what was probably expected from scouts and stuff like that,” Slattery said of the championships.
“But I kind of had a feeling I knew I had it in me. Whether or not I’d be able to produce it, I didn’t know. But I’m really grateful for the opportunity and how it turned out.”
Slattery finished school at Adelaide’s Prince Alfred College last year and has been living and studying commerce at Aquinas College this year – just a few drop punts away from Adelaide Oval.
“I went to both the Showdowns and I like watching my footy,” Slattery said.
“But even if I’m not there, watching in my room you can still hear the crowd noises, so it feels like you’re almost there.”
Slattery met eight clubs at the national draft combine and is expected to be a second-round selection.
He has had interest from both Adelaide and Port Adelaide, as well as the likes of Collingwood, Carlton, St Kilda and Melbourne.
ACADEMY SQUAD UNVEILED
Nine club-tied players headline a squad of 25 top draft prospects for 2027 who have been selected in the AFL National Academy.
The squad was announced this week for what is the 30th intake of the boys program.
Father-son prospects Koby Bewick (Essendon) and Louis Salopek (Port Adelaide) were both included, along with Northern Academy prospects Jackson Bridge (Brisbane Lions), Max Holden (Brisbane Lions) and Coen Hardy (GWS).
Port Adelaide NGA prospect Zemes Pilot and Hawthorn NGA pair Zane Adams and Henry Allsop were also included, while Tasmanian Jake Beams is available to the Devils.
Other familiar names include Jett Flower (grandson of Robbie) and James Artemis (cousin of Jaxon).