Key forward draft prospect Archie Ludowyke doesn\u2019t shy away from it. He wasn\u2019t happy with his National Championships, which came to a halt after a knee injury. <\/p>\n
But Ludowyke still thinks he had a \u201creally successful year\u201d and he\u2019s ready to show the AFL what he can do after advice that\u2019s stuck with him from one of the game\u2019s rising stars.<\/p>\n
The athletic Sandringham Dragons high-flyer had a strong start to the season including a five-goal haul against Eastern Ranges.<\/p>\n
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Ludowyke wasn\u2019t able to translate his good form onto the big stage for Vic Metro, before a PCL injury in July ended his under-18 carnival campaign prematurely.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome Champs, I definitely dropped off. I thought I performed pretty poorly and was never able to get into the games very much before injuring my knee and getting ruled out for the rest of the season,\u201d Ludowyke told foxfooty.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t able to show what I can do and was left with that feeling of: \u2018You played a poor Champs\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter, the youngster is proud of his season at large and believes he has plenty more tricks to show. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really proud of my year. I think I performed well and the champs don\u2019t talk about me as a whole as a player,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I still look back and think it\u2019s a really successful year, especially with the AFL Academy and lining up on fully built players and still being able to perform with a more raw frame.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it showed my ability to perform against tougher opponents. The rest of the year playing well in school and the Coates League, I think it was a successful year.\u201d<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 13: Archie Ludowyke of the AFL National Academy celebrates kicking a goal during the Marsh AFL National Academy Boys match between Australia U18 and Richmond VFL at RSEA Park on April 13, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Josh Chadwick\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Ludowyke has kept in touch with former Vic Metro and Sandringham Dragons teammates, Giant Harry Oliver and Tiger Luke Trainor, and gotten valuable advice to help set him up for the AFL ahead of the national draft later this month<\/p>\n
Having a relentless competitive approach is the biggest thing Ludowyke has taken away from AFL players including Giants star forward and former No. 1 pick Aaron Cadman. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been told by a lot of different people the number one thing \u2014 especially as a new key forward coming to a club \u2014 they just want to see you compete … I think I do that pretty well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was lucky enough to speak to Aaron Cadman earlier in the year about what he faced coming into the Giants. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeing not as big as the other key forwards and defenders and just being knocked down a bunch of times at training and getting back up and keep competing every single time. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest advice he gave me that stuck with me. The mentality to never give up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cadman is the player Ludowyke, also left-footed but slightly taller at 197cm, has modelled his game off most. <\/p>\n
And the two have a bit in common as athletic key forwards who played for Sandringham Dragons and attended Brighton Grammar.<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JULY 17: Aaron Cadman of the Giants celebrates a goal during the 2025 AFL Round 19 match between the Essendon Bombers and the GWS Giants at Marvel Stadium on July 17, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Ludowyke credited school footy coach Simon McPhee as one of his most influential figures and mentors. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s included an emphasis on professionalism and off-field behaviours as well as helping prepare the youngster for interviews with clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to most clubs, I\u2019ve only not spoken to Gold Coast and Brisbane,\u201d Ludowyke continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great. From the first interview to now I\u2019ve had heaps of improvement after not really knowing what to say in the first one. It\u2019s basically all the same questions.<\/p>\n
\u201c(McPhee) really helped me. He helps out at West Coast from time to time, he has knowledge and a lot of contacts in the AFL.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ludowyke conceded he was \u201cvery nervous\u201d in his first interview with St Kilda, who he grew up supporting, and \u201cdidn\u2019t really know what to say\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know what my answers were but they probably weren\u2019t great,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go for St Kilda, I\u2019m forced to by my dad. If I didn\u2019t go for them, I wouldn\u2019t live in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Of all the questions he was asked by clubs, the 18-year old was somewhat caught off-guard by a reasonably straightforward one.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the main one \u2013 although it was so simple, it was so hard to answer \u2013 was just like: \u2018What would be one trait that you\u2019d change in yourself to become a better person?\u2019 It was so different that it\u2019s so hard to answer,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whichever AFL club he lands in a fortnight\u2019s time, Ludowyke, who turns 18 next week, is pumped to get back on the park as much as anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been more excited. I haven\u2019t been able to play footy in 12 weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thought of getting back out there and the next time I play footy will probably be with an AFL club, I\u2019ve never been more excited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so determined to play and hopefully get into a team as soon as possible, even though I know it\u2019ll take a bit of time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key forward draft prospect Archie Ludowyke doesn\u2019t shy away from it. He wasn\u2019t happy with his National Championships,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[2534,638,64,63,689,55,3449,639,684,155314,150051,138182,155107,3435,43984,155317,2105,155315,2485,33330,3512,647,7198,677,701,155313,155318,155320,155316,10144,85,1122,2801,155128,155319,660],"class_list":["post-265726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-aaron-cadman","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australian-football-league-academy","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-cotton","tag-carnival-campaign","tag-coates-league","tag-communication-outside","tag-draft-prospect","tag-eastern-ranges","tag-emma-moore","tag-five-goal-haul","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-giant-harry-oliver","tag-gold-coast","tag-josh-chadwick","tag-knee-injury","tag-melbourne","tag-michael-willson","tag-oceania","tag-queensland","tag-raw-frame","tag-relentless-competitive-approach","tag-school-footy","tag-simon-mcphee","tag-single-time","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-tasmania","tag-tassie-tables","tag-valuable-advice","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265726","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=265726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}