Northern Knights ruck prospect Harry Van Hattum's trademark confidence emerges when asked to consider the best players in this year's AFL Draft class.
Van Hattum's rare blend of size, skill and athleticism had him entering the year as one of the leaders for the top open-pool selection and while others have gained on him, he remains in the frame.
"Including myself?" he asked. "I'll take myself."
"I just back myself and have that confidence in myself that I feel like I'm pretty rare and unique and I back myself to say, 'I'm the best player in the open pool at least'."
Van Hattum is viewed as one of the five leading contenders for the top gong in the open pool, alongside Heath Mellody, Arki Butler, Ethan Drever and Gus Teixeira but has fallen to something of an outsider as things stand.
Port Adelaide list boss Jason Cripps revealed on AFL Trade Radio on Thursday that he had been informed by his Essendon counterpart Matt Rosa that the Bombers have Port Adelaide-tied Dougie Cochrane first on their board, which is a widespread view.
There remains conjecture about who will land at The Hangar in the most even open-pool Pick 1 race of a generation.
"Obviously there would be a lot of media but I'll just try to stay off social media because it's just posted by randoms so it is irrelevant if I stick to my internal group of people: family, my coaches and my management," Van Hattum said.
Across recent years, rucks have gone out of vogue at the AFL National Draft.
The introduction of the Mid-Season Draft, Supplemental Selection Period and evolving nature of the game has led to a decline in teenaged big men being selected.
Last year, Cooper Duff-Tytler somewhat bucked the trend, taken by West Coast at Pick 4, and has been given exposure at the top level in the forward line this year. Alex Dodson and Louis Emmett slid in their draft years and alongside Mitch Edwards, are the only other big men who have been taken in the last three national drafts.
With added height, Van Hattum projects as more of a pure ruck at the next level but sees similarities between Duff-Tytler and his own journey and stressed the important role rucks have to play in modern footy.
"I think rucks are the biggest, most physical guy on the ground and you want weapons to be super dominant and protect midfielders," he said.
"They're the first person to get their hands on the ball and tap it to the midfielders and let the stars of the game get to work, especially with the new ruck rules which suit my game a little bit."
Those new ruck rules, which prevent big men from crossing the centre-line, promoting jumping rather than wrestling at centre clearance, have been a prominent talking point in the ruck fraternity this year.
Leaping rucks have benefitted and no prospect had a better running vertical jump than Van Hattum's 103cm in the pre-season testing - close mate Sam Gayfer equalled the Luke Jackson-like prospect - while his imposing presence gives confidence he could play a role earlier in his career than most key-position prospects.
"I'm more of a run and jump kind of ruck so the new rules suit my game," Van Hattum said.
"I back myself to play as early as I can. If I have a big off-season and put on a bit more size - I look at Cooper Duff-Tytler last year, I'm no less ready than him so I think I'll be ready to go."
Van Hattum emphasised the role Northern Knights coach and former Collingwood key forward Anthony Rocca has played in his development this year. But father Rod, has honed his ruck craft which helped him have the best hitout-to-advantage rate at this year's Under-18s Championships.
Rod played VFL footy for Northern Bullants as a ruck and has imparted significant knowledge on the Pick 1 contender and Under-18s All-Australian whose ruck craft, as much as his impact with the footy, is a significant point-of-difference.
"Ever since a young age, he's always been the one to get me out and do some ruck taps and taught me how to jump, and work on my timing and all my tap work as well," Van Hattum said.
With his dad, Harry remembers climbing Mount Kilimanjaro as a 14-year-old during a two-month holiday to Africa.
"It was four days up, one-and-a-half days down and it's bloody hard," he recalled.
"It's just about putting one foot in front of the other. The guides tell you to walk at a super-slow pace and by the end you literally can't walk any faster without feeling like you're going to fall over.
"It's pretty mentally challenging but it was cool to get to the top."
Injuries interrupted Van Hattum's season and restricted his continuity throughout 2026. He still averaged 19 disposals, 20 hitouts and a goal for the Northern Knights and his last game of the National Championships was a reminder of his game-changing ability while he gained plenty from the AFL Academy series.
The frustration from injuries taught Van Hattum important lessons he'll take to the next level.
"It was a frustrating season with a couple of injuries and had a bit of a dip after those injuries and then it took me a while to find my feet again," he said.
"I couldn't really stretch my calf during that time and it restricted my ability to jump. I couldn't really do top-end sprinting or anything so it was pretty cooked in that sense.
"It taught me about having that resilience to maintain your drive and keep your head down and training and maintain discipline even if things aren't going your way.
"It wasn't ideal (playing with injury), I probably should have stopped playing a bit earlier so I could have had a week or two off rather than a month. Through those Academy games and some games for school, I wanted to play just so we could make finals."
Van Hattum lives on a 20-acre property in Kangaroo Ground which has given him a release from the stress of footy throughout a high-pressure 2026.
"We have a few cows so feeding them or fixing fences or anything like that. I love hanging around the property, whether it is riding motorbikes or mountain bikes or going for a swim in the pool, or dam. Our nearest neighbours are a couple of kilometres away so I just love it," he said.
The serenity of the farm might be the playground he's spent much of his life in but he thrives on the big stage and the club which selects him will hope Van Hattum can carry that into the AFL.
He has been closely linked to Richmond, which holds Pick 2 and desperately needs a Toby Nankervis successor, having prioritised its midfield at recent AFL drafts.
"It's always been the dream (to be drafted) since I was a little kid," Van Hattum said.
"I was lucky to play in the Under-17s Futures game and it didn't feel real, it felt like I was playing a video game."
