CHANGES 2024-5 Part 1: Early doors in a season of turmoil by The Oracle 

The changes came early for the beleaguered Demons in 2024. 

In February, before the first football had been kicked in anger, the bombshell of Angus Brayshaw’s retirement hit the Melbourne Football Club like a sledgehammer. The popular Demon premiership player was medically retired after a concussion suffered in 2023 qualifying final when he was hit front on by a Brayden Maynard bump that was controversially cleared by the AFL Tribunal.

The retirement of the much-loved and respected Demon after a 167 game career rocked the club that drafted him with the No.3 pick, one selection after Christian Petracca at the 2014 AFL National Draft. The pair were outstanding for a number of years in the lead up to the club’s drought breaking 2021 premiership at Optus Stadium. Brayshaw had 25 disposals and kicked a goal in the win. 

The club was already reeling in the wake of the suspension of Joel Smith following the return of a sample provided by the player during an in-competition doping control test after last year’s Round 23 Melbourne vs Hawthorn game which indicated the presence of prohibited substances, cocaine and its metabolite Benzoylecgonine being a Prohibited Substance under the Code. The son of former player Shaun, Joel Smith played 14 of his 42 career matches for Melbourne in 2023, including the Demons' two narrow finals losses against Collingwood and Carlton.

Additionally, it was  reported in February that Smith was facing four new anti-doping rule violations from Sport Integrity Australia — three for trafficking cocaine and one for possession. As a consequence, Smith’s suspension has remained in place to this day, leaving the club short of two senior list players for the whole season, although Brayshaw was replaced on the club lists by Western Australian rookie Luker Kentfield who played out the season with the Casey Demons in the VFL. 

As a consequence, the club’s lists looked like this from the end of May until the club’s season came to an end in the wild and woolly conditions of last Friday night against Collingwood.

PRIMARY LIST: —

Jed Adams Jack Billings Jake Bowey Ben Brown Kade Chandler Tom Fullarton Bayley Fritsch Max Gawn Blake Howes Lachie Hunter Matthew Jefferson Ed Langdon Bailey Laurie Jake Lever Shane McAdam Tom McDonald Steven May Alex Neal-Bullen Clayton Oliver Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Kysaiah Kropinyeri Pickett Trent Rivers Christian Salem Josh Schache Joel Smith Charlie Spargo Tom Sparrow Koltyn Tholstrup Adam Tomlinson Daniel Turner Jacob van Rooyen Jack Viney Caleb Windsor Taj Woewodin 

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A 

Kynan Brown Marty Hore Luker Kentfield Judd McVee Jake Melksham Oliver Sestan Will Verrell

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY B  

Kyah Farris-White Andy Moniz-Wakefield 

RETIRED 

 Angus Brayshaw

By the time the shutters had come on Melbourne’s disappointing 2024, veteran forward Ben Brown had announced his retirement after a long career from 2014 at North Melbourne and Melbourne where he played 175 games and kicked 360 goals. Brown joined the Demons in late 2020 and played a pivotal role in their premiership success the following year. Injuries in his later seasons kept his tally of games at the club to 45 for 72 goals. In addition, another premiership player, Alex Neal-Bullen, who is still in contract, requested a trade home to South Australia at season's end after playing 174 games for the club since being drafted in 2014.

And finally, the disquiet from injured superstar Christian Petracca surfaced when it was recently reported that he also wanted out, despite having five years left on his contract. 

That scenario is still to be played out with the club insisting that it requires the terms of that contract to be honoured. The reports have unleashed a media circus which has done little good for the club or the image of the player. My perspective is that that there is no doubt that Petracca suffered a horrible injury and equally, there's no doubt that the last thing he needs for his health and his welfare is for this circus to be played out in the media. If those around him, truly care for his well-being they would declare a halt to these goings on and stay away from the media until such time as Petrracca is in a good headspace and able to make considered rational decisions about any change to his current playing situation. 


Today, the club announced its first delistings - Josh Schache and Category B rookie Kyah Farris-White who I will cover in the next installment of this series.

CHANGES 2024-5 Part 2: The Accidental Rebuild by The Oracle

While the main phase of the 2024 Trade and Free Agency period ended last week, some activity in this area will continue over the next month in the lead up to the national draft. Trading of draft picks will continue on an intermittent basis and clubs will also have the opportunity to select delisted free agents and to delist more players. So, it ain’t over yet!

Meanwhile, the football world continues to speculate about who won the trade and free agency period. This is a subjective exercise that might be worthy of debate but because the fruits of the process are rarely felt immediately, there’s little point in claiming victory at such an early stage.  

This is what’s transpired with the changes at Melbourne since the 2023 national draft.

Players In: Tom Campbell (St Kilda) Harry Sharp (Brisbane) [Luker Kentfield (Subiaco WA) selected in the midseason draft]

Players Out: Angus Brayshaw (retired) Ben Brown (retired) Kyah Farris-White (delisted ®) Lachie Hunter (retired) Alex Neal-Bullen (Adelaide) Josh Schache (retired) Adam Tomlinson (delisted)

Draft Picks: 5, 9

Of the players on the main list who leave the fold, only Neal-Bullen played a significant role in 2024. Brown has been hampered by knee issues over the past couple of years and similarly, Hunter could barely put together more a couple of games due to a recurring calf problem. Schache couldn’t break into the side after his only game for the season in Round Zero vs the Sydney Swans. The club was unable to arrange a trade for out-of-contract defender Adam Tomlinson who was delisted after trade week. 

Melbourne was able to arrange a trade with the Brisbane Lions for athletic speed machine Harry Sharp who is expected to play on a wing or at half-forward, but missed out on getting tall utility Wade Derksen across from the GWS Giants. Sharp, holds the AFL Draft Combine record for the 2km time trial, and was named as an emergency for this year’s Grand Final. Earlier, the Demons had secured experienced veteran Tom Campbell as a break glass in case of emergency ruckman through free agency.

One of the rays of light for the club is the fact that when the dust settled on the trade and free agency period, it’s draft hand was composed of selections 5 and 9, a good place to be given its evenness as the pointy end. The club doesn't hold a future first round selection, after giving that to the Bombers to get pick nine but that’s not considered a big deal 12 months out of next year’s draft when there’s still a month left to speculate on this year’s version. 

Melbourne’s list manager Tim Lamb has declared that "supporters should be really excited" with the pending arrival of two top ten picks on top of retaining Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca and Kozzy Pickett on the roster, but more of that later.

Lamb’s optimism is based on the club backing itself to bring about a better measure of team stability after the turbulence of 2024. The results of the club’s internal views are almost at hand and there seems to be some confidence that positive change will be implemented as a result. Of course, this remains to be seen but a strong preseason, with many leading players coming through fully fit will be a boon for movement up the ladder. A less stringent fixture is also anticipated and that will most certainly help.

Let’s not underestimate the effect of a settled pair of superstars in Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca. Their return to full fitness along with key defenders Steven May and Jake Lever and the two on-field leaders in Max Gawn and Jack Viney, all of who had niggling injury issues at times during the year, means much more than the introduction of a single random newcomer to a club’s list. As Lamb has said:

“Christian Petracca’s one of the best players in the competition. I don’t think anyone is recruiting a better player than Christian, and we missed him for the second half of the year.”

The club’s process and procedures in relation to the handling of Petracca’s Kings Birthday injury has been given the tick of approval approval by multiple reviews conducted by the AFL and the AFL Doctors' Association, despite questions raised about the treatment of its player at the ground and when he was in hospital.

Possibly the most room for optimism stems from the almost accidental rebuild that came about as a result of the year’s injury and form woes and gave more game time to the younger brigade of 23 and unders. 

Like the move of Trent Rivers into the midfield, the limited moments there given to a variety of others including the likes of Pickett, Koltyn Tholstrup, Christian Salem and even up and comer Judd McVee had his midfield moments. The club’s first pick in the 2023 draft Caleb Windsor, was outstanding from the get go on a wing. Next year, he could well get a share of midfield duties.

We saw defenders Blake Howes and Andy Moniz-Wakefield introduced into the lineup, slow but gradual improvement from Taj Woewodin and fellow father/son prospect Kynan Brown with a couple of cameos. Two young emerging key forwards Jacob van Rooyen and Daniel Turner continued to improve suggesting a further boost in the club’s scoring capacity. With the potential of uncapped youngsters in Matt Jefferson and Will Verrell likely to step up in 2025, Lamb’s prediction of exciting times ahead is not just wishful thinking. And then there are picks 5 and 9.

The pundits are expecting the first to be used to obtain a quality midfielder, the second on a key position player. Further down the draft, there’s the prospect of acquiring Gippsland Power small forward Ricky Mentha as a Category B rookie, through the Next Generation Academy and Noah Yze as a father/son selection although neither can be assured of selection at this point. 

Demon fans can all take comfort in the knowledge that head recruiter Jason Taylor has established a good reputation for picking out top young talent. Let’s take last year’s national draft as an example. 

At about this time last year, the AFL’s Cal Twomey issued a mock draft which read as follows (eventual destinations in brackets):-

1 Harley Reid (1, West Coast Eagles)
2 Jed Walter (3, Gold Coast Suns)
3 Zane Duursma (4, North Melbourne)
4 Colby McKercher (2, North Melbourne)
5 Nick Watson (5, Hawthorn)
6 Daniel Curtin (8, Adelaide)
7 Ryley Sanders (6, Western Bulldogs)
8 Nate Caddy (10, Essendon)
9 Ethan Read (9, Gold Coast Suns)
10 Connor O’Sullivan (11, Geelong)
11 Caleb Windsor (7, Melbourne)
12 James Leake (17, GWS Giants)
13 Jordan Croft (15, Western Bulldogs)
14 Jake Rogers (14, Gold Coast Suns)
15 Darcy Wilson (18, St Kilda)
16 Koltyn Tholstrup (13, Melbourne)
17 Lance Collard (28, St Kilda)
18 Riley Hardeman (23, North Melbourne)
19 Will McCabe (19, Hawthorn)
20 Ollie Murphy (41, Fremantle)

It would be fair to say that Taylor’s two picks have proved by their debut season performances, pleasing choices. In the main, the best picks came in the top dozen or so players with the main exceptions outside that group being Brisbane’s Logan Morris (31), Hawthorn’s Calsher Dear (56) and Geelong’s Lawson Humphries (63). 

Which brings us to the club’s playing list at this point of time, four weeks out from the national draft.

PRIMARY LIST: —

Jed Adams Jack Billings Jake Bowey Tom Campbell Kade Chandler Tom Fullarton Bayley Fritsch Max Gawn Blake Howes Matthew Jefferson Ed Langdon Bailey Laurie Jake Lever Shane McAdam Tom McDonald Steven May Clayton Oliver Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Kysaiah Kropinyeri Pickett Trent Rivers Christian Salem Joel Smith Harry Sharp Charlie Spargo Tom Sparrow Koltyn Tholstrup Daniel Turner Jacob van Rooyen Jack Viney Caleb Windsor Taj Woewodin 

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A 

Kynan Brown Marty Hore Luker Kentfield Judd McVee Jake Melksham Oliver Sestan Will Verrell

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY B  

Andy Moniz-Wakefield 

Thanks for the very good summary.

It’s interesting to see Joel Smith’s name - l hope he can get back.

I keep seeing posters say McVee will be upgraded, but pretty sure he was upgraded end of last year wasn’t he? I could be wrong though!

15 minutes ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

I keep seeing posters say McVee will be upgraded, but pretty sure he was upgraded end of last year wasn’t he? I could be wrong though!

Fairly certain his upgrade was due for the 2025 season. 

AMW will have to be upgraded to rookie cat-A list (or senior list) as he's been on the cat-B list 3 years. He can go to the Rookie-A list as he's played less than 10 games

Kynan Brown is a Cat-A rookie.

Edited October 22, 2024Oct 22 by Nascent

3 minutes ago, Nascent said:

Fairly certain his upgrade was due for the 2025 season. 

AMW will have to be upgraded to rookie cat-A list (or senior list) as he's been on the cat-B list 3 years. He can go to the Rookie-A list as he's played less than 10 games

Kynan Brown is a Cat-A rookie.

Thanks. Its not outlined on the website anymore and pretty sure it used to be.

Lets hope Judd signs a new contract extension as part of moving to the senior list!

On 22/10/2024 at 14:44, Demonland said:

CHANGES 2024-5 Part 2: The Accidental Rebuild by The Oracle

While the main phase of the 2024 Trade and Free Agency period ended last week, some activity in this area will continue over the next month in the lead up to the national draft. Trading of draft picks will continue on an intermittent basis and clubs will also have the opportunity to select delisted free agents and to delist more players. So, it ain’t over yet!

Meanwhile, the football world continues to speculate about who won the trade and free agency period. This is a subjective exercise that might be worthy of debate but because the fruits of the process are rarely felt immediately, there’s little point in claiming victory at such an early stage.  

This is what’s transpired with the changes at Melbourne since the 2023 national draft.

Players In: Tom Campbell (St Kilda) Harry Sharp (Brisbane) [Luker Kentfield (Subiaco WA) selected in the midseason draft]

Players Out: Angus Brayshaw (retired) Ben Brown (retired) Kyah Farris-White (delisted ®) Lachie Hunter (retired) Alex Neal-Bullen (Adelaide) Josh Schache (retired) Adam Tomlinson (delisted)

Draft Picks: 5, 9

Of the players on the main list who leave the fold, only Neal-Bullen played a significant role in 2024. Brown has been hampered by knee issues over the past couple of years and similarly, Hunter could barely put together more a couple of games due to a recurring calf problem. Schache couldn’t break into the side after his only game for the season in Round Zero vs the Sydney Swans. The club was unable to arrange a trade for out-of-contract defender Adam Tomlinson who was delisted after trade week. 

Melbourne was able to arrange a trade with the Brisbane Lions for athletic speed machine Harry Sharp who is expected to play on a wing or at half-forward, but missed out on getting tall utility Wade Derksen across from the GWS Giants. Sharp, holds the AFL Draft Combine record for the 2km time trial, and was named as an emergency for this year’s Grand Final. Earlier, the Demons had secured experienced veteran Tom Campbell as a break glass in case of emergency ruckman through free agency.

One of the rays of light for the club is the fact that when the dust settled on the trade and free agency period, it’s draft hand was composed of selections 5 and 9, a good place to be given its evenness as the pointy end. The club doesn't hold a future first round selection, after giving that to the Bombers to get pick nine but that’s not considered a big deal 12 months out of next year’s draft when there’s still a month left to speculate on this year’s version. 

Melbourne’s list manager Tim Lamb has declared that "supporters should be really excited" with the pending arrival of two top ten picks on top of retaining Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca and Kozzy Pickett on the roster, but more of that later.

Lamb’s optimism is based on the club backing itself to bring about a better measure of team stability after the turbulence of 2024. The results of the club’s internal views are almost at hand and there seems to be some confidence that positive change will be implemented as a result. Of course, this remains to be seen but a strong preseason, with many leading players coming through fully fit will be a boon for movement up the ladder. A less stringent fixture is also anticipated and that will most certainly help.

Let’s not underestimate the effect of a settled pair of superstars in Clayton Oliver and Christian Petracca. Their return to full fitness along with key defenders Steven May and Jake Lever and the two on-field leaders in Max Gawn and Jack Viney, all of who had niggling injury issues at times during the year, means much more than the introduction of a single random newcomer to a club’s list. As Lamb has said:

“Christian Petracca’s one of the best players in the competition. I don’t think anyone is recruiting a better player than Christian, and we missed him for the second half of the year.”

The club’s process and procedures in relation to the handling of Petracca’s Kings Birthday injury has been given the tick of approval approval by multiple reviews conducted by the AFL and the AFL Doctors' Association, despite questions raised about the treatment of its player at the ground and when he was in hospital.

Possibly the most room for optimism stems from the almost accidental rebuild that came about as a result of the year’s injury and form woes and gave more game time to the younger brigade of 23 and unders. 

Like the move of Trent Rivers into the midfield, the limited moments there given to a variety of others including the likes of Pickett, Koltyn Tholstrup, Christian Salem and even up and comer Judd McVee had his midfield moments. The club’s first pick in the 2023 draft Caleb Windsor, was outstanding from the get go on a wing. Next year, he could well get a share of midfield duties.

We saw defenders Blake Howes and Andy Moniz-Wakefield introduced into the lineup, slow but gradual improvement from Taj Woewodin and fellow father/son prospect Kynan Brown with a couple of cameos. Two young emerging key forwards Jacob van Rooyen and Daniel Turner continued to improve suggesting a further boost in the club’s scoring capacity. With the potential of uncapped youngsters in Matt Jefferson and Will Verrell likely to step up in 2025, Lamb’s prediction of exciting times ahead is not just wishful thinking. And then there are picks 5 and 9.

The pundits are expecting the first to be used to obtain a quality midfielder, the second on a key position player. Further down the draft, there’s the prospect of acquiring Gippsland Power small forward Ricky Mentha as a Category B rookie, through the Next Generation Academy and Noah Yze as a father/son selection although neither can be assured of selection at this point. 

Demon fans can all take comfort in the knowledge that head recruiter Jason Taylor has established a good reputation for picking out top young talent. Let’s take last year’s national draft as an example. 

At about this time last year, the AFL’s Cal Twomey issued a mock draft which read as follows (eventual destinations in brackets):-

1 Harley Reid (1, West Coast Eagles)
2 Jed Walter (3, Gold Coast Suns)
3 Zane Duursma (4, North Melbourne)
4 Colby McKercher (2, North Melbourne)
5 Nick Watson (5, Hawthorn)
6 Daniel Curtin (8, Adelaide)
7 Ryley Sanders (6, Western Bulldogs)
8 Nate Caddy (10, Essendon)
9 Ethan Read (9, Gold Coast Suns)
10 Connor O’Sullivan (11, Geelong)
11 Caleb Windsor (7, Melbourne)
12 James Leake (17, GWS Giants)
13 Jordan Croft (15, Western Bulldogs)
14 Jake Rogers (14, Gold Coast Suns)
15 Darcy Wilson (18, St Kilda)
16 Koltyn Tholstrup (13, Melbourne)
17 Lance Collard (28, St Kilda)
18 Riley Hardeman (23, North Melbourne)
19 Will McCabe (19, Hawthorn)
20 Ollie Murphy (41, Fremantle)

It would be fair to say that Taylor’s two picks have proved by their debut season performances, pleasing choices. In the main, the best picks came in the top dozen or so players with the main exceptions outside that group being Brisbane’s Logan Morris (31), Hawthorn’s Calsher Dear (56) and Geelong’s Lawson Humphries (63). 

Which brings us to the club’s playing list at this point of time, four weeks out from the national draft.

PRIMARY LIST: —

Jed Adams Jack Billings Jake Bowey Tom Campbell Kade Chandler Tom Fullarton Bayley Fritsch Max Gawn Blake Howes Matthew Jefferson Ed Langdon Bailey Laurie Jake Lever Shane McAdam Tom McDonald Steven May Clayton Oliver Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Kysaiah Kropinyeri Pickett Trent Rivers Christian Salem Joel Smith Harry Sharp Charlie Spargo Tom Sparrow Koltyn Tholstrup Daniel Turner Jacob van Rooyen Jack Viney Caleb Windsor Taj Woewodin 

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A 

Kynan Brown Marty Hore Luker Kentfield Judd McVee Jake Melksham Oliver Sestan Will Verrell

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY B  

Andy Moniz-Wakefield 

Thanks, great summary. Going by Twomeys efforts last year picks in the top 10 are usually with 2 of his predictions. The out by 2 was McKercher and Curtin. The rest were either spot on or out by 1. Good effort by Twomey.

Its a good time to be bringing in early picks on top of last years draft given Tassy coming in.

The club IMO is on the ball. Well done Tim Lamb. Let's hope JT and his team once again draft well.

Thanks D’land for that excellent and optimistic summary.

One thing I did wonder about was the current and future status of Joel Smith.  IMO regardless of his physical state, would he ever be able to regain the trust and confidence of his colleagues in the playing group, the off field staff and the supporter base?  And what is the current situation regarding his suspension and investigation?

Thanks

Some additional changes -

• Joel Smith has now been delisted 

• Jake Melksham has been promoted back into the primary list

• Marty Hore has been contracted for 2025 and will remain on the Category A list 

• it is anticipated that Judd McVee will be promoted into the primary list as an upgrade on draft night

CHANGES 2024-5 Part 3:  Building an innings by The Oracle

There are still more than a hundred days to go before the bounce of the ball to start the 2025 AFL season but Demon fans certainly have far more reason to be upbeat than they were twelve months ago. 

Perhaps, the difference could best be explained in cricketing terms given the season we’re into on the sporting calendar.

Last year, we were sent in on a sticky wicket. Very little was going right both on and off the field. When it all started, we lost an early wicket up in Sydney, recovered with a couple of handy partnerships but suffered a batting collapse at the end and that was all she wrote. We can claim bad luck with injuries and narrow defeats, even blame the umpires but in the end, we failed to put the score on the board. 

Some heads have rolled at the top and the selectors have moved to change the line up so reverting to football terms, these were the changes which lead me to feel somewhat more optimistic about what lies ahead for Melbourne.

Off the field, the air is clearing and a new leadership is emerging. The coach’s position is in a good place, his integrity affirmed and his mission to restore the club’s position as a premiership contender solidified with new blood supporting him in the coaching ranks. 

The club didn’t trade very much but at the end, it did retain its star players in Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Kysaiah Pickett, all of who were in danger of being lured away for one reason or another at one stage in the trade period. Indeed, the first two of this group are back training strongly and looking great among the developing group of youngsters at the club along with some of the more seasoned players who also came back early. Further, the expectation is when the full group reassembles next week, the club’s other mature big guns will also be ready for a big preseason.

This column is about change and these are the changes that have been made to the Demons’ lists over the trade, free agency and draft period: 

IN Tom Campbell (free agent, St Kilda), Aidan Johnson (Werribee), Harvey Langford (Dandenong Stingrays), Xavier Lindsay (Gippsland Power), Ricky Mentha (Category B rookie), Harry Sharp (trade, Brisbane)

OUT Angus Brayshaw (retired), Ben Brown (retired), Kyah Farris-White (delisted), Lachie Hunter (retired), Alex Neal-Bullen (trade, Adelaide), Josh Schache (delisted), Joel Smith (delisted), Adam Tomlinson (delisted)

Langford and Lindsay are the two young guns of the draft picked up by the club on Day One of the 2024 AFL National Draft and covered here. 

The Demons surprised on Day Two with a further addition in mature aged (24 years old), big bodied Aiden Johnson who is a 193cm athletic brute who imposes himself on the contest. He is a key forward/ruck who spent the past three and a half seasons with Werribee VFL but originally hailed from Lavington in the Ovens & Murray League. When he arrived at Avalon Airport Oval, he was a typical country big man, carrying a bit of weight and throwing it around but he trimmed down somewhat on the way to a VFL flag with the Tigers.

After his recruitment, the club’s National Recruiting Manager Jason Taylor said:

“We're really rapt to be able to give Aidan an opportunity.”

“We're really pleased with the way he's progressed this year, and we feel like he's got AFL talent.

“He plays with a real aggressive edge, he's got speed, he can get back on the ball at ground level and he's just going to make things happen.”

Yesterday afternoon, the club’s Next Generation Academy player Ricky Mentha, a teammate of Xavier Lindsay at the Gippsland Power, joined the clubs as automatic category B rookie selection under the AFL rules. He is a product of Alice Springs and is the first player from that area signed to an AFL list in over a decade.

Like Harvey Langford, the 178cm Mentha trained with the club before the 2024 season. He made the move to Melbourne this year to further his draft hopes and apart from the Gippsland Power, he played with the National Academy, Northern Territory and the Allies in 2024, mainly as a forward. He added a further string to his bow when moved into defence late in the season and showed out with his his footy IQ and skillset. He hit it off with Kysaiah Pickett whilst at the club and his journey at the club promises to be an exciting one.

Some lift shuffling occurred with Judd McVee and Jake Melksham moving up to the primary list from the rookie list while Andy Moniz-Wakefield was reclassified into a Category A rookie. So here are the club’s lists as it heads towards 2024 aiming towards building a big first innings in the next test to come.

PRIMARY LIST: —

Jed Adams Jack Billings Jake Bowey Tom Campbell Kade Chandler Tom Fullarton Bayley Fritsch Max Gawn Blake Howes Matthew Jefferson Aidan Johnson Ed Langdon Harvey Langford Bailey Laurie Jake Lever Xavier Lindsay Shane McAdam Tom McDonald Judd McVee Steven May Jake Melksham Clayton Oliver Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Kysaiah Kropinyeri Pickett Trent Rivers Christian Salem Harry Sharp Charlie Spargo Tom Sparrow Koltyn Tholstrup Daniel Turner Jacob van Rooyen Jack Viney Caleb Windsor Taj Woewodin  

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A 

Kynan Brown Marty Hore Luker Kentfield Andy Moniz-Wakefield Oliver Sestan Will Verrell 

ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY B  

Ricky Mentha Jnr 

A summary of the 2024 draft crop.

2024 AFL Draft Review: Melbourne