Cooper Duff-Tytler remains one of the AFL’s top draft prospects approaching the National Draft, and it’s no secret as to why.<\/p>\n
Standing at 200cm, the 18-year-old ruckman has starred for Calder Cannons and Vic Metro, covering ground with ease and playing multiple positions to an incredibly high level throughout his draft year.<\/p>\n
Despite featuring in Australia’s U16’s FIBA Asia Cup triumph in 2023 alongside NBL youngster and NBA prospect Dash Daniels, Duff-Tytler opted into football, with the infamous ‘basketball background’ marking a prominent feature in the ruckman’s potential.<\/p>\n
With elite athleticism and versatility, Duff-Tytler has remained a lock for a top three selection for most of the year, with draft experts expecting the prospect to be snapped up before the third overall pick.<\/p>\n
Speaking to his versatility, Duff-Tytler suited up for Essendon in VFL’s Round 21, the 18-year-old was deployed as a second tall forward, comfortably slotting in at the level with 13 disposals and three goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI trained at Essendon VFL for a few weeks beforehand, getting to know the squad and the teammates that I\u2019d be playing with,\u201d Duff-Tytler told SEN WA Breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone there, the coaches and all my teammates were bringing me in and embracing me, that gave me confidence on game day to go out and play to my strengths. They were big on trying not to stress, to \u2018just do what you do and you\u2019ll be fine\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I got out there, I definitely felt comfortable at that level, and I think because on the senior grounds you don\u2019t have the density rule, playing a forward that really opened the game up for me, and I was able to get up the ground and use my strengths such as my aerobic power getting up and the ground a bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Likely to be selected within the top two of the upcoming National Draft, Duff-Tytler\u2019s AFL career appears destined to commence out west, with the Eagles holding both Pick 1 and Pick 2 courtesy of Oscar Allen’s shift to Brisbane.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, Duff-Tytler has already expressed his willingness to move from Victoria if the Eagles opt to select the young ruckman.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I\u2019m more than happy to go to West Coast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually live a fair way out of Melbourne even though I\u2019m a metro kid, so I\u2019d have to move out anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always dreamt of playing AFL footy, so I\u2019m happy to move anywhere to make that a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
If he was to be selected by the Eagles, Duff-Tytler would like to see the club select Vic Country star Willem Duursma to join him in WA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll stick with Duurs\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had a very good year, and I think one of his best games of the season came against us in the Vic Metro versus Vic Country game, where he was huge in them winning that game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Standing at 200cm, Duff-Tytler models his game around the competition\u2019s most athletic ruckman, with a basketball background, elite running capacity and top speed anchoring his immense potential.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely think everyone is a bit unique, but there\u2019s a few players that I try to take things out of there game to put into mine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuke Jackson and Tom De Koning are the main two as the ruckmen and looking at Riley Thilthorpe as a forward are probably the main three that I try to take a little bit out of.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to play anywhere (on the ground). I can play multiple positions which is a bit of a strength.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I come into the league, I might have to play as a bit more of a forward and that\u2019s probably where the coaches will see me in the first few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether I transition into the ruck or down back I guess we\u2019ll see, but I\u2019m happy to play anywhere that the coach wants.\u201d<\/p>\n
The National Draft takes place on the 19th and 20th of November.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cooper Duff-Tytler remains one of the AFL’s top draft prospects approaching the National Draft, and it’s no secret…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-263530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}