Everything you need to know ahead of the AFL Draft

From a WA perspective, of course.

G’day friends. Happy AFL Draft week!

First of all, my wife kindly pointed out that I got ahead of myself last week and thought it was 2026 instead of 2025. Apologies. I’m just glad she’s actually reading.

Righto then, with no WA teams competing any more in 2025 we’ll crack straight on to the draft coverage.

Let’s get stuck in.

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AFL DRAFT

A quick re-cap for those playing at home ahead of this week’s AFL draft.

• The first round begins Wednesday at 4pm WA time. With bidding etc we should see more than 20 players selected. Jacob Farrow is the only WA player attending in person.

• The second round and beyond begins Thursday at 4pm. That’s where most of the locals will be picked up.

• The rookie draft will take place on Friday.

• West Coast have picks No.1 and No.2 - they are heavily linked to Victorian duo Willem Duursma (tall mid who can play anywhere) and Cooper Duff-Tytler (agile forward-ruck) but could still spring a surprise with their second pick.

• The Eagles also have four Academy or Father-Son nominees in Tylah Williams, Koby Evans, Charlie Banfield and Wes Walley. At this stage it looks like they will match bids on the first three, while Wes is a wait-and-see proposition.

• Fremantle don’t enter the draft until pick No.20, which will blow out after early bidding. It’s pointless trying to link a player at a pick that deep.

• The Dockers have two NGA nominees - Toby Whan and Ryda Luke. At this stage the expectation is they take both. Luke is all raw potential, but there’s a lot to like.

WA are expected to have around nine or 10 players picked up across the national and rookie drafts.

Expect the order to be something along the lines of: Jacob Farrow (West Perth), Tylah Williams (Swan Districts), Sam Swadling (West Perth), Fred Rodriguez (South Fremantle), Cody Curtin (Claremont), Leon Pickett (Swan Districts) and then a raffle between Charlie Banfield (Claremont), Toby Whan (South Fremantle), Koby Evans (Perth) and Ryda Luke (South Fremantle).

I wrote in more detail on them all earlier this month if you’re so inclined.

SOME GOOD READS

• Cal Twomey’s November AFL form guide (AFL Media)

• Eliza Reilly on Leon Kickett (CODE Sports)

• Hopes alive of a Curtin double for the Crows (CODE Sports)

• Nathan Schmook on Toby Whan (AFL Media)

• Ben Smith on Sam Swadling (The West)

We promised a couple of our own profiles in the weeks leading up. Last week was Koby Evans, who is still the most intriguing West Australian in this year’s draft for mine.

This week, I want to focus on a guy who’s less intrigue and more consistent, high-level output…

FRED RODRIGUEZ

South Fremantle’s Mr Reliable started the year as a likely first-round pick. He didn’t put a foot wrong from there, but has somehow drifted down the order.

The reason? There’s a couple.