Scouting Notes 30/10/2025

"The best small forward in this year’s draft pool, Dovaston has often made a hard position look easy.

Club Eastern Ranges / Blackburn

State VIC

Height 178cm

DOB 29/05/2007

Scoreboard Impact / X Factor / Pressure / Endurance

A creative small forward, there’s definitely a little bit of Nick Watson about Dovaston. He hit the scoreboard on a consistent basis across different programs this year, including in the Coates Talent League and with Vic Metro. Dovaston had a standout game for the Eastern Ranges in round 11, booting five goals from 20 disposals. He went on to lead Vic Metro’s goalkicking at the under-18 national championships with nine majors from four games, highlighted by an 18-disposal and four-goal performance against the Allies. Applying good forward pressure is the key to his game, while he also works hard up the ground to get involved, has great agility and forward craft, can hit the scoreboard in different ways and sets up teammates in better positions inside the forward arc. Dovaston played a key role in the Ranges’ premiership this year and kicked two goals from 24 disposals as one of his side’s best players in the Grand Final win over the Sandringham Dragons in September. The performance saw him finish the season with 38 goals from 16 games in the Coates Talent League – the second-most of any player in the competition. Dovaston was named in a forward pocket in the under-18 All-Australian team and earned a spot in the Coates Talent League Team of the Year. He also made a VFL debut for Box Hill in round 20, gathering 18 disposals and kicking 1.3. At the national draft combine in October, Dovaston excited as he finished first in the agility test (7.794 sec) and equal-fourth in both the standing vertical jump (74cm) and running vertical jump (89cm) tests.

2025 Coates League 114 ranking points, 16.1 disposals, 2.3 marks, 5 tackles, 6.9 score involvements, 2.4 goals, 1.1 score assists (16 games)

2025 VFL 78 ranking points, 18 disposals, 5 marks, 3 tackles, 7 score involvements, 1 goal, 3 behinds, 3 score assists (1 game)

2025 National Champs 94 ranking points, 12.8 disposals, 2 marks, 3.5 tackles, 5.5 score involvements, 2.3 goals (4 games)"

Not many of the midfield options likely available at 7 and 8 inspire me

Time to get on the 🕊️ train

I'm warming to him a lot. Crazy high agility level and one of those 'fight in the dog' little players. Work rate and defensive pressure sound amazing. I haven't seen a lot of his field kicking ie. the 20-30m passes into 50 but it generally looks good.

Most small forwards are tied to clubs so I wouldn't be surprised if he surges up the order. My doubts are his size - 178cm and does look slightly built and I guess as a result of that accumulation - will he get the ball enough to make serious impact? There's a few good examples of small forwards with this stature succeeding lately but we do see a lot of them get on the AFL park and struggle to get higher than 5 possessions a game. If that were the case, he'd want to be nailing every chance and half chance he gets. I'm sorry but from a family of architects and designers it's hardwired to think critically.

38 goals from a kid who isn't even a stay at home forward is damn impressive though, could even make a great tag team with Kozzie rotating through the middle. All for him.

Edited yesterday at 01:081 day by layzie

Fingers crossed he becomes a Demon. He's exactly what we need and small forwards are just about the most impactful position in the game right now. Kozzie is elite, but as he spends more time up the ground, we need more quality small forward options who hit the scoreboard regularly. Dovaston would add that and has played well further up the ground as a connector too. they'd form a great tag team down the track rooting mid/forward. Other small options like Chandler aren't damaging enough when they only manage to kick 0.7 goals a game year after year. We need more firepower.

Dovaston is a high goal scorer, adds defensive pressure, has absolutely elite agility (best in draft class and fourth best ever tested), has good pace, great leap (fourth best in draft class), and importantly has mongrel in him so despite his small size he gets stuck in.

Perfect for the modern game. Make him a Dee!

Edited yesterday at 01:271 day by Lord Travis

1 hour ago, Lord Travis said:

He's exactly what we need and small forwards are just about the most impactful position in the game right now

We could certainly do with another top notch small forward...so maybe that's exactly what we need.

...but is it him? does he fill this role or is he being mentioned only because he plays this role?

I guess time will tell.

1 minute ago, rjay said:

We could certainly do with another top notch small forward...so maybe that's exactly what we need.

...but is it him? does he fill this role or is he being mentioned only because he plays this role?

I guess time will tell.

If we want another potential elite small forward in this draft, then it's most likely him. He's being mentioned because he's got great attributes and has proven himself above all others. And yes he's a small forward, but also had good impact up the ground as a connector through the midfield, so has versatility.

Leading goal scorer. All Australian small forward. Elite testing. He's a great talent and will definitely be taken by a club in the first round, just a matter of if it's us or not.

1 hour ago, Lord Travis said:

He's a great talent

Is he?

I'm being serious here and hope that JT and co can judge this.

Given it's supposed to be an average draft at best then he hasn't been displaying those attributes against better competition.

I'm not trying to be difficult, just saying that because he's the best small forward from this crop doesn't necessarily translate to being a gun small forward at AFL level.

In the 2020 draft Will Phillips was seen as the best pure mid and selected at pick 3 and now delisted.

Statistics and highlights won't tell the story. Good recruiting people on the ground will.

If we pick him then I hope he is all we want and more.

Whoever we take, I hope we pick the eye teeth out of the draft.

There will be good talent and maybe he is one.

Cheers.

The wizard was a flop in the last final they played in, small forwards are hit and miss.

6 minutes ago, bluey said:

The wizard was a flop in the last final they played in, small forwards are hit and miss.

Probably the wrong player to use as an example. He's the perfect example of why we SHOULD take Dovaston, as they're very similar players. Watson is only 19 and has already had an impact in finals. His finals last year were huge, close to BOG in both of them with 4 goals and 3 goals. He also had a big semi final this year where he kicked 2 goals 4 points - if he'd kicked straighter he could've had a bag and another BOG type performance.

Small forwards have a big impact on the outcome of finals. It's key forwards who are usually hit and miss and rarely have influence.

35 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Probably the wrong player to use as an example. He's the perfect example of why we SHOULD take Dovaston, as they're very similar players. Watson is only 19 and has already had an impact in finals. His finals last year were huge, close to BOG in both of them with 4 goals and 3 goals. He also had a big semi final this year where he kicked 2 goals 4 points - if he'd kicked straighter he could've had a bag and another BOG type performance.

Small forwards have a big impact on the outcome of finals. It's key forwards who are usually hit and miss and rarely have influence.

It never happened My Lord, your wizard was the worst player on the ground by a huge margin in the Prelim against the Cats, had 5 disposals, one after half time .

There’s only one wizard and it’s not that dud.

7 minutes ago, bluey said:

It never happened My Lord, your wizard was the worst player on the ground by a huge margin in the Prelim against the Cats, had 5 disposals, one after half time .

There’s only one wizard and it’s not that dud.

What about the four other finals where he was one of the most impactful players on the ground including a BOG performance? How impact in finals the last two years are a major reason that small forward are now so in demand by all teams. He’s kicked more goals than any Melbourne player in finals this decade bar peak Frisch and Gawn in 2021 in 60+ point thumpings…

You’re living in an alternate reality. Watson is the opposite of a dud, and if Dovaston winds up similar then he’ll have a long and successful career, hopefully with us.

2 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

What about the four other finals where he was one of the most impactful players on the ground including a BOG performance? How impact in finals the last two years are a major reason that small forward are now so in demand by all teams. He’s kicked more goals than any Melbourne player in finals this decade bar peak Frisch and Gawn in 2021 in 60+ point thumpings…

You’re living in an alternate reality. Watson is the opposite of a dud, and if Dovaston winds up similar then he’ll have a long and successful career, hopefully with us.

Stop being sensible

Most of us would have Sherlock in a heartbeat

Sorry you can’t call him the Wiz. He’s not Jeff farmer and never will be. He’s the OG Wiz. I’m expecting Wu Tang to have him on stage he’s so OG

4 hours ago, Superunknown said:

Stop being sensible

Most of us would have Sherlock in a heartbeat

Sorry you can’t call him the Wiz. He’s not Jeff farmer and never will be. He’s the OG Wiz. I’m expecting Wu Tang to have him on stage he’s so OG

I agree. I’ll never call him the Wizard. He remains Watson to me. Good player but the real Wizard was just special and worthy of the moniker.

28 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

I agree. I’ll never call him the Wizard. He remains Watson to me. Good player but the real Wizard was just special and worthy of the moniker.

can we throw some respect the walpiri wizards way too please