AFL Fantasy Draft Track Watch 01/02/25

Want to stay ahead in your AFL Fantasy Draft? We’ve gathered the latest track watch updates from all 18 AFL clubs to give you key insights into player form, role changes, and preseason buzz.

With AFL pre-season games just around the corner, the smell of real hard data for our AFL Fantasy Draft teams is also just around the corner. Until then we have to rely on the AFL Draft Pros insiders to help get the job done.

All this information shared below is being incorporated into the AFL Draft Pros Fantasy Rankings. Make sure to subscribe to our mailing list to have a copy issued to your inbox prior to the preseason matches kicking off.

Let's get into it, with the updates from the track this week.

• Fitness guru Darren Burgess gave great insight into some of the fitness data coming out of Adelaide this week. The key takeaway was the work ethic of Isaac Cumming. Mitch Hinge did hint in an interview this week that Cumming would play more on the wing than half back.

• In the same interview Mitch Hinge couldn’t hide his praise for James Peatling saying that he’s been “unbelievable” and “super impressive”. Another positive sign for Peatling’s year if he’s already having this impact on his teammates.

• Josh Rachele got big wraps again from Nicks this week. This is the same coach that said he’s having the “best off-season from a player I’ve seen in a long time” earlier in the preseason. There are too many good things coming out about Rachele at the moment to avoid considering him as a forward bench option for those drafting before preseason games.

• It’s way too early to be making predictions, but the Lions season seems behind the eight ball before it even starts. No Daniher, Hipwood injured, McCluggage has yet to return to full training, Neale has yet to return to full training and Big O still recovering from his shoulder. This has us fading expectation on Brisbane points available this year.

• At least we got confirmation this week that Will Ashcroft is tearing up the track.

Carlton players and coaches made themselves very available to the media this week. We heard from Lachie Cowan on RSN, Jack Silvagni and Harry McKay on SEN. Plus there was plenty of match simulation footage released. If only every club was like this. As a result, we found out the following:

• Harry McKay confirmed he has been continuing honing his ruck craft in a bid to help chop out in the ruck during the year. This is not good news for our already slim AFL Fantasy Draft forward options as in any games that McKay had CBAs last year, he averaged 77. Games without any CBAs he averaged 90. Fans of McKay would be the only ones in the AFL Fantasy community hoping that De Koning doesn’t solo ruck this year.

• Jack Silvagni is back in full training and confirmed his role in defence this year. An exciting prospect as a potential AFL Fantasy Draft forward bench option once we see how he goes in the preseason games.

• In all interviews, all players were asked who would replace Nic Newman’s role this year. We at AFL Draft Pros have our eyes on Ollie Hollands but other names that were brought up included Matthew Carroll, Nick Haynes, Adam Saad and even Lachie Cowan threw his hat in to the ring as wanting the spot. Interestingly, no one mentioned Sam Docherty.

• Charlie Curnow is back in full training and an option for our draft Forward lines. We should get a good idea from now what exact role Tom De Koning will be playing this year.

• Sam Walsh is two weeks away from returning to match simulations.

• Nick Daicos is back. That’s pretty much all the relevant AFL Fantasy Draft news from the Pies this week.

• Former Top 5 draft pick, Elijah Tstatas continues to be the headline story out of the match simulation work. In the very first bounce, Tsatas playing for the A team, got the clearance that led straight to a goal. The kicker of that goal was Veteran Dylan Shiel who was running straight past from half back so the hype about his move down back is only getting more momentum.

• We view Tsatas potential selection as only bad news for fantasy options such as Darcy Parish, Caldwell and Durham.

• Jye Caldwell is intergrating back into full training this week.

• Sean Darcy returned from Qatar and was on the field for today’s training. He was unable to finish though and ended up the session in a compression boot while others completed the match simulations. Luke Jackson’s stocks are rising.

• Gryan Miers was spotted training with the midfield, but he confirmed this was not going to be something permanent in 2025. He was also spotted dominating training in general and getting involved in chains even higher up the ground than usual before finishing the sessions at the front of the pack in running drills. This just cements his spot as one of the premium forward options in AFL Fantasy Draft in 2025.

• Others spotted in the midfield mix were Max Holmes, Bailey Smith, Mitch Knevitt, Tom Atkins and Jhye Clark.

• Cam Guthrie is on a modified program again. Poor guy.

• Big week for Gold Coast who completed a training camp just out of Byron Bay. This meant not much match simulation on the track.

• We heard interviews from Touk, Moyle, Ainsworth and Dimma but the only insight we really got from these media obligations were their feelings on the Rowell situation and that John Noble is bringing a lot off half back already.

Josh Kelly lined up at CBAs in all match simulation this week and was opposed to Tom Green. This is very exciting if it continues into the season as the community is well aware how well he can perform as a CBA midfielder. Last year alone, in regular season games where he had over 35% CBAs, he averaged 109. We smell a draft steal coming.

• Reports are coming out about Will Day potentially playing more forward this year.

• Listening in on the interview that causes these rumours, Day did state that “this time of year is a good time to try things”. It’s worth noting that he kept talking about the midfield group as “We” in the interview. Our take is that he may rest up forward at times, but this is nothing to be concerned about. Hawks are most damaging with Day through the midfield. At most, it would be a break glass in case of emergency type of move from Sam Mitchell within a game.

• Dylan Moore confirmed that Cam MacKenzie is “one to watch out for” this year.

• Max Gawn is back in to full training but even before returning had missed none of the running program. If anything, staying away from contact training at this time of year will only be a good thing.

• Christian Petracca is near full fitness also but still is not exciting to us as a prospect this year for your AFL Fantasy draft teams. Plenty of safer options around his tier.

• Trent Rivers full time midfield role was confirmed as likely during the week by multiple reports and match simulation footage has justified that hypothesis. People should get excited if true, last year in four games with over 70% CBAS, Rivers averaged 112. In 9 games with over 50% CBAs he went at an average of 91. Although he’ll have a fitter Oliver and potentially Petracca by his side this is exciting as a last pick in our AFL Fantasy draft backlines.

• Wardlaw’s injury is only good news for Luke Parker and Tom Powell to start the year. Tom Powell was singled out by North assistant coach Leigh Adams during the week as having an amazing preseason. A late stash for our AFL Fantasy Draft midfields.

• Interestingly Zac Fisher continues to play off half-back in match simulation. A draft slider to keep an eye out for.

• Jy Simpkin was challenged on radio by Kane Cornes about whether he should play more midfield because he was the captain. Simpkin didn’t respond in a positive manner for our fantasy teams though. He seemed pretty sure he would be playing from the forward line in 2025.
  

• We are no clearer as to who will be taking the Houston role. In match simulation Burton took the kick outs for one team and Rory Atkins took the kick outs for the other team.

• In the same training Logan Evans impressed and Farrell only played one quarter on match sim. We feel this is one that we are going to have to wait until after the preseason matches to have a definitive answer on how it should play out.

• Kaleb Smith and Sam Banks were mentioned as possibilities to replace the departed Daniel Rioli across half-back. Sam Banks performed well in the match simulation playing for the A Team off half back.

• Tim Taranto played up forward in the match simulation this week. It’s worth noting that Lynch went down early during the practice but there is slight cause for concern here. Tim Taranto was a proven goal scorer when he was forced to play forward for GWS as a bit of a Mr Fix It when they had a similar circumstance in 2021. Hopefully this was just a once off this week to get more exposure to the young guns at training.

• As most of the AFL Fantasy community knows there were injuries to key AFL Fantasy players Rowan Marshall and Mattaes Phillipou. There is no upside to the Marshall injury, and it really sounds like a nasty one for a ruckman. You can add a minimum of four weeks to any timeline you’re hearing to when Marshall will be able to return to his premium scoring ways after such an injury.

• It does cement Jack Macrae and Jack Steele’s place as having the lion’s share of the St Kilda’s midfield rotation.

• Jack Sinclair and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera continue dominating off half back. It’s worth noting that Milera is getting far more involved as the last kick before Saints go inside 50 despite starting in the backline. Really this is only good news for both these player's prospects. Both players are locks as premium options for your AFL Fantasy Draft defence.

• Callum Mills interestingly lined up on the B Teams midfield this week, but we aren’t worried. It’s likely that Cox wanted him to teach those around him on the weaker side what to do.

• Drafter beware on Oliver Florent as there seems to be strong competition from Ben Paton week to week to take that position.

• With Jack Graham `for personal reasons and Harley Reid suffering a knock, it was Liam Duggan who got more midfield time this week at training. For Duggan to be at his best we need him in defence for the Eagles. Hopefully by the time the season starts there’s enough names back in the midfield mix for West Coast to allow us to draft Duggan into our AFL Fantasy defence with confidence.

• Liam Baker came out and stated that he would be playing a “selfless” role in West Coasts backline this year. As stated previously, Baker averaged just over 60 points when playing in defence under McQualter previously. He is an avoid for us.

• Poor Bulldogs just can’t get a good run at it at the moment like the Lions or Saints. Ryely Sanders prospects went from good to great with the news about Adam Treloar’s injury.

• Jason Johannisen was also injured but unfortunately for him this was also the case last year so we know what the lay of the land is like without him. Really it’s good news for Bailey Dale and Bailey Williams but with no huge bump expected in eithers scoring capacity from last year.

Final Word – Stay Ahead with AFL Draft Pros Track Watch

This preseason track watch gives AFL Fantasy Draft players a distinct edge. With each club's key updates covered, you're in the best position to fine-tune your draft list. Remember, preparation is key to dominating the competition.

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