The talent pathway industry is abuzz at the moment, with Wednesday's Mid-Season Draft driving the conversation.
The U18s National Championships drawing nearer is also heightening the urgency of individual performances, with several standout players across the weekend.
The widespread belief in the draft industry now is that the West Coast Eagles will use their No.1 pick at the Mid-Season Draft on talented Richmond VFL half-back Tom McCarthy.
McCarthy, who will receive an 18-month contract, was managed for this week's Tigers VFL game to safeguard him from any potential injuries ahead of his likely AFL listing.
His Tigers teammate Massimo Raso is on the radar of several clubs seeking a small forward, with North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs among the clubs interested.
Meanwhile, Port Adelaide have been linked to several players, but Craft of the Draft understands the club will either take WA's Michael Sellwood or a tall forward.
Essendon has four selections available, and is expected to take a readymade ruck to help out Todd Goldstein and a tall forward among that, having spoken to Archer May, Riley Mason and Floyd Burmeister.
May has spoken to several other clubs after a strong start to the season for Subiaco in 2025, having moved west from Richmond's VFL side last year and looks Pies-bound.
As well as May, Collingwood has been linked to Rod Ali, who played two VFL games for the club to help him qualify for the draft, while VFL-listed pair Mason and midfielder Josh Browne have spent time training with the AFL squad.
Werribee small forward Zac Banch is a name that has emerged late as a likely option for a club after a small forward, with North Melbourne understood to be leading the race.
If drafted, Banch, who played in the Bees' VFL premiership last year, would continue the brilliant pipeline of talent produced by Werribee after the club had three players taken at last season's end-of-year draft.
High-flying Casey listed tall forward Caleb Lewis has been heavily linked to Gold Coast.
Lewis has played just one game for the Dees in 2025 due to the health of Melbourne's AFL tall forwards, but has pressed his case in Melbourne's Southern League for Dingley and in a pair of Young Guns contests.
South Australian small forward Ewan Mackinlay is another who will be around the mark.
Carlton is understood to be leading the interest in hybrid Richmond VFL forward Sam Toner; the Western Bulldogs have interviewed Gippsland tall Zac Walker and athletic Calder forward Cooper Herbert.
Other rucks believed to be in contention include WA's Ollie Eastland and Murray Bushrangers' Zac Harding, the latter recording 55 hitouts on the weekend in a statement U18s game
Carlton is getting a special, special player.
Provided Walker chooses to nominate as a Blues father-son next year – he is also tied to Richmond's Next Generation Academy – he looks set to be at the nucleus of the next generation with Jagga Smith.
Having taken his game to new heights in recent weeks, Walker maintained that level on Saturday, doing just about everything except hitting the scoreboard.
His competitiveness, vision, clearance-winning and kicking execution stood out as he looked a large class above his teammates in a loss for his Bendigo Pioneers.
Walker finished with 27 disposals, four tackles and eight inside 50s.
“He's a competitor and gives it 100 per cent at every contest,” Bendigo Pioneers skipper Hunter Wright said of Walker.
“Running out beside him, you know you have someone on the team who's just going to give it his all week in and week out.
“He's going well at the moment so it's cool to be part of that journey.
“Being a bottom-ager, it's pretty unreal what he's doing out there so I'm just going to keep giving him support and hopefully he can give the same to me.
“We've built a good relationship and he's killing it.
“He's very skilled, got a lot of athleticism but I think what makes Cody Walker is his competitiveness and his relentlessness at the contest and intent to help the team win.”
Wright himself was another standout for the Pioneers.
Carlton Next Generation Academy small forward Tyson Gresham had 27 disposals and kicked four goals to set up Northern Knights' win over Sandringham.
The hard-at-it Knights co-captain is part of a strong crop of small forwards in the Vic Metro squad, with his big game coming at the right time, two weeks out from his team's first game after a solid start to the year without hitting his full straps.
"He's building quite nicely - his pressure and his toughness has been really good and he's hit the scoreboard a couple of times," Northern Knights coach Anthony Rocca said of Gresham last week.
The son of former Carlton fitness boss and longtime AFL high performance manager Andrew Russell and Kevin Bartlett's grandson were among Dandenong Stingrays' standout players on Saturday.
Jasper Russell's hard-running and reliable distribution continues an impressive stretch of form.
The Haileybury College alumni has averaged 23 disposals this year, seemingly benefitting from being immersed in the Coates League system full time
Meanwhile, Callum Smith, Bartlett's grandson, showed his intent around the contest and spread to lead the on-ball brigade with the typically reliable Sam Lewis missing with a hand injury.
He finished with 26 disposals and a goal - bang on his average output for each of his last three Coates League games.
Claremont key forward Cody Curtin was the storyline out of a WA trial game on Saturday morning, with the first-round prospect filling his boots with five goals.
It follows a quieter patch of form for one of the leading tall forwards after being one of the standouts of the first month of the season.
Other strong performers included Fremantle NGA midfielder Toby Whan and WA skipper Fred Rodriguez.
Western Jets captain Tom Burton's form in 2025 has somewhat flown under the radar amid the hype around teammate and Pies father-son Tom McGuane.
Burton averaged 33 disposals in his first three Coates League games of 2025 in between a strong AFL Academy series, and turned in a best afield performance for the Jets on Sunday.
The Point Cook local spent part of pre-season with the Western Bulldogs, but was largely limited in his training as a result of osteitis pubis.
Burton's running power, speed and decision-making are all eye-catching, while his body language and grit while his team was more than 40 points down helped get the Jets briefly back within three goals.
“The support he's shown for his teammates has been outstanding in a young team,” Jets coach Christian Stagliano recently said of Burton.
“Watching vision with him, he's drawing other guys in and trying to teach them and help guys out with their positioning, I can't speak highly enough of him in that space.
“He's quick, super fit, strong, he runs with the ball.”
Gippsland silky mover Jobe Scapin has put together a strong fortnight at an opportune time as the U18s National Championships draw nearer.
Scapin amassed 22 disposals to go with two goals for Gippsland following four last week and looks settled as a half-forward, having played around the field during his talent pathways career, which includes games for Vic Country's U16s side.
The form spike follows a quiet start to the year which included a minor injury setback, with Poewr coach Rhett McLennan telling Craft of the Draft last week that he has been pleased with Scapin's progress.
“His willingness to come up at the footy and present in such an important position was impressive,” McLennan said of his game last week, and he did much the same on Saturday.
“When you get someone to play it well, they're worth their weight in gold and I was also pleased with his pressure and some good defensive moments where they were on the rebound, so I thought it was a pretty complete game.”
GWV Rebels forward Charlie McKinnon kicked eight goals in a marking masterclass at Mars Stadium on Sunday.
The 190cm McKinnon also had three direct goal assists, and thus had a direct hand in 11 of his team's 14 goals.
It's just his third game of the season, with a stress fracture delaying his start to the season, but he has taken little time to find his best, kicking two, four and eight in his three games.
It follows a promising bottom-aged season where he kicked 15 goals from 12 games, with his pressure and ground-level game areas he's shown improvement in this year to complement his strength.
"Marking's one of the things I focus on," McKinnon told Craft of the Draft post-game.
"I feel like I put it together for four quarters today and it was good.
"Hopefully I can keep building on some form.
"I just felt like I wasn't dropping as many marks and clicked with simple things like leading patterns and bodywork.
"It's simple stuff I lost without doing a pre-season, I felt a bit rusty.
"I had only two weeks of training before the season started so it was good to (work) myself into form with simple fundamentals."
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