The AFL has seen an influx of mature-age talent into the league in 2026, and with the introduction of a 19th and likely 20th team in the coming years, clubs will have to scour the land for older options as the draft pool stretches.
Former West Coast premiership player Chris Waterman, and father of current Eagles star Jake, leads Inside 50 Player Management in the west, which tries to put a spotlight on mature-age talent.
Waterman played 177 games for West Coast and won two flags before moving into the coaching ranks at WAFL clubs Peel Thunder (2006-09) and Subiaco (2010-12). During that time, Waterman told Zero Hanger that he noticed a lot of AFL-quality players were being lost to the system.
"In 2006, I took over Peel for four years and probably thought there was a little bit of mishandling going on with certain players and a lot of guys that I thought were probably draft-able that weren't getting spoken to by agents and there wasn't a lot around back then 20 years ago," Waterman said.
"There were only a couple of local (player agent) companies. Paul Peos (director and agent at Inside 50) was assistant coach with me, and we decided (to start one), and it took us another six or seven or eight years before we actually got going.
"We thought there was a market for a lot of guys that were developing late in their draft year or developing the year or two or three after their draft year.
"There's a lot of guys that are coming in late, so we, instead of just going for the top end, we felt like there was a need for someone to look after these guys who were developing later in their careers."
The state leagues have nowhere near the resources of AFL clubs, and players often have to juggle university, apprenticeships or full-time work while trying to prove they are physically and mentally gifted enough for a shot at the next level.
This can lead to players becoming disheartened by their futures should they miss out on an opportunity in their first draft year. Waterman said he and his agency are trying to change that narrative.
"There's a lot of guys that give in too easily; once the draft season goes, or the draft year goes, they think that's it. But there's more and more later picks, or mature age picks coming into it, particularly now with another team coming in and potentially, as soon as Tasmania's in, the talk of a 20th team," he said.
"It means that the talent pool's having to spread a fair bit more and clubs are, instead of going to get six or seven 18-year-olds every year, they're looking to sort of back end their list with some mature age guys who have got 40, 50, 60 state league games under their belt.
"What a lot of parents don't understand who haven't been brought up in the industry, you're nowhere near playing your best football at the age of 18 years of age.
"I mean, even at 25, guys are improving because you get a lot smarter. So to think that your footy career is over at 18 because you can't get drafted is the wrong way to look at it because you've got so much learning and growth in your career.
"You certainly need to stick at it. And regardless of AFL football clubs in general, particularly at state league, they will still offer you plenty of life opportunities with work and so forth."
The job of a player agent is much like a recruiter; you have to find the players that might not be on the radar, but have AFL potential. Even if others don't see it yet.
Waterman said he remembers signing emerging Geelong ruck Mitch Edwards, despite the former Fremantle Next Generation Academy member not drawing much attention at the start of his draft year.
"It's easy to identify the obvious; it's just trying to find the back end players," he said.
"Take Mitch Edwards for a case where Mitch was in his underage year and 18s, didn't get a game first up and ended up being the number one ruckman for the 18s in his underage year, so they can come on pretty quick and still went 32 or 33 in the draft, and now he's looking like a pretty big part of Geelong's team going forward."
In another case, Inside 50 signed Michael Sellwood before he made his name at the Western Bulldogs.
Waterman said Sellwood's tenacity in fighting for an AFL spot encouraged the company to sign him.
"(Sellwood) had quite a number of clubs very interested in him. So the thing that Michael did was he played 18s and then missed the drafts and then kept at it at Peel and became a premiership player in their senior team amongst a bunch of AFL-listed players," he said.
"He still managed to force his way into that team and play in a premiership. So he showed he was capable of matching it with those guys, and he just kept growing in size, and his attitude towards it all was that he wanted to make it.
"It's like a lot of these guys, they've got the talent, though sometimes the attitude's not quite right, and they don't quite give it 100 per cent. But I always say, you only need one recruiter to fall in love with you and pull your name out and then away you go."
The Western Australian football pathway system has copped some criticism previously, with the state's inability to produce top-end talent coming under the microscope.
In 2025, only one Western Australian player (Jacob Farrow, Pick 10 Essendon) went in the top 36 players of the draft. The year prior, only two players were selected in the top 25, and the last Pick 1 from the Sandgropers was David Swallow for Gold Coast in 2010.
Waterman said making sure that draft pools are strong year-upon-year is an impossible task.
"Look, you can always look to improve," he said.
"It's a bit like Colts teams coming through or the state 18's coming through; there's always different groups. Some years, there's a really top group, and other years, there's not as much.
"It's never easy, never the right or wrong way to do it, because you got kids coming out of the PSA system, which is the school system. They're also playing Colts, and they're also in the under-18s. So they go through a varied group of coaches throughout one year of football, and you're getting a lot of different messages, which can be awkward and confusing at times."
