{"id":299435,"date":"2025-11-21T14:34:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T14:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/299435\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T14:34:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T14:34:33","slug":"2025-draft-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/299435\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Draft Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The GIANTS have welcomed three fresh faces from the Draft class of 2025.\n <\/p>\n

The GIANTS have accrued their targets in this year\u2019s Telstra AFL Draft, welcoming three fresh faces from the Draft class of 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In one of the quieter Drafts for the club, the GIANTS utilised picks 15 and 51 throughout the National Draft across Wednesday and Thursday before selecting an Academy Graduate via the Rookie Draft on Friday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trading up throughout the 2025 Continental Tyres Trade Period, the GIANTS entered the first round with pick 12 \u2013 which later became pick 15 due to the bidding system \u2013 with the prior work from GIANTS Head of Talent Adrian Caruso allowing the club to secure exciting young defender Oskar Taylor.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

A versatile medium defender who has explosive speed and an elite athletic profile, Taylor has been described as the most GIANTS-like player in this year\u2019s Draft prospects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In another strategic move from Caruso and his recruitment team the club once again engaged in a trade to move up the order and ensure they got their man in Finn Davis.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taken with pick 51, Davis \u2013 who skipped his Graduation dinner to wait eagerly for his name to be called out \u2013 is a versatile defender capable of matching up on both tall and small forwards, combining strong shutdown ability with the pace and skill to launch attacks from the back half.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rounding out the three new inclusions, the GIANTS made dreams come through for one of their own, selecting GIANTS Academy product Riley Hamilton<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Overlooked in last year\u2019s Draft, Hamilton has now earned his AFL chance after standout performances throughout the year for the Academy, the Allies and the club\u2019s VFL side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brother to Swans AFLW players Cynthia and Lexie, the Canberran is a versatile forward, dangerous both in the air and at ground level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other list moves, the GIANTS re-listed Jake Stringer via the National Draft as well as Conor Stone through the Rookie Draft, after the pair were previously delisted in accordance with the AFL\u2019s rules heading into the Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The GIANTS have also committed to signing Jayden Laverde, with the former Bomber set to officially become a GIANT on Monday through the pre-season supplementary selection period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

GIANTS Head of Talent Adrian Caruso declared it was another successful Draft for the club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe draft on traits and skill set and the three players we have selected definitely have the traits, skill set and potential for the GIANTS system,\u201d Caruso said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year we have a clear strategy on the type of players we want to bring in. We have a philosophy about finding what makes a GIANTS player and going through the year we scout on those fundamentals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the three players we selected we feel there is enough flexibility in their game and that their attributes can be translated over time. Our focus was bringing in players who play the way we want to play, who we rated highly, and who also have strong character \u2013 and we\u2019re rapt with the guys we got.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest cohort of draftees will relocate to Sydney in the coming days and look to join the 2-4 year players mid next week.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The GIANTS have welcomed three fresh faces from the Draft class of 2025. The GIANTS have accrued their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-299435","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","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299435","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=299435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}