AFL Fantasy Draft Track Watch 08/02/25
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.
Matt Crouch hurt his foot at training on Saturday, but we are yet to hear the extent of it. Interesting to note he was swapping between the A and B team before that.
Rankine, Peatling and Dawson got the lion share of CBAs during the match simulation this week.
Lachie Neale returned to full training. He has missed pretty much the entire preseason but is too much of a professional for that to impact him like it would others.
Ah Chee spent a press conference talking up Lohman and Rayner’s “energy” they bring to the group. There isn’t much in that for us AFL Fantasy Draft players though.
Carltons A team saw some notable players in defence including, Jack Silvagni, Ollie Hollands and Nick Haynes.
With Docherty noting he would be spending majority of his time at the start of the season in the middle of the ground, Hollands and Haynes can safely rise up our draft rankings.
Harry McKay is playing on decent opposition in match simulation but is still looking strong and great. Stocks are rising in our forward line.
Harry Perryman was used exclusively at CBAs during match sim. With news of Jordon De Goey taking time to return this is very real. Perryman’s success as a defensive midfielder in the past means we have to temper expectations, but he has risen up our Draft Rankings on the back of the De Goey news and should be going way higher than his current Average Draft Position
Jack Crisp seems to have a wing position while as previously flagged on ADP, Josh Daicos is running off half back in match sim. All the pieces are there for Perryman.
Another match sim, more confirmation that a fit Dylan Shiel should dominate off half back this year. One to enjoy while it lasts as his body does struggle to make a whole season. One to trade high early if you snag him on draft day.
Tsatas got plenty of CBAs but still no Durham or Parish this week.
Langford is looking great up forward and has averaged 80+ before so is worth keeping on your draft rankings.
Be sure to listen to our exclusive one on one interview with Fremantle captain Alex Pearce.
Alex gave us plenty of insight and some of the takeaways included:
Young likely to spend more time up forward (potential DPP).
Wagner is playing off half back and dominating at training.
Luke Jackson is dominating the training track and why he would pick him over Shai Bolton in our forward lines.
If he had to draft one in his fantasy squad, Pearce would suggest Brayshaw over Serong.
Stewart confirmed that his role this year will be similar to last years (starting centre and moving behind the ball). Taking Stewart’s Round 24 injury out of the equation, he averaged 104 in this role at the tail end of the year.
Do yourself a favour and watch some of the match simulation highlights that Geelong put on their club website. Bailey Smith is EVERYWHERE. A top 10 pick in our ADP Rankings which are subject to the preseason games.
Sam De Koning continues to rotate all over the ground with most of his time this week spent up forward and in the ruck.
Huge flag on Witts this year with Hardwick admitting that he will constantly be battling with Moyle for the number one ruck role each week. If you do draft Witts in AFL Fantasy, make sure you handcuff with Moyle (grab Moyle too!).
We’re waiting with bated breath to hear more information about Flanders back injury and if he will end up missing any early season games.
Toby Greene is next up in our Pre-Season player series so we will be hearing more out of the GWS Camp this week. Stay tuned.
Will Day and Lloyd Meek were singled out by Scrimshaw as the best trainers of preseason so far during his presser this week. No surprises there but it’s always nice to hear this validation.
Clayton Oliver was at his dominate best again to impress track watchers again this week.
We learnt that Petracca will return to contract training in the next fortnight. An absolute avoid to draft in to your midfield at his current Average Draft Position.
McKercher continues training/intraclub matches playing up forward. This is good news for our potential DPP list.
It’s hard to go past a report or interview involving North Melbourne without hearing more positive news about Tom Powell. Simpkin was the latest to sing his praises this week.
Reminder that Tom Powell averaged 96 up to round 6 last year and averaged 91 over the last 5 games. Going into his fifth year too.
Caleb Daniel continues to play the fantasy friendly distributor role from defence. Draft him with confidence into your forward line this year.
Zac Fisher was missing from match sim this week. He was slowly building as a potential sleeper so we’ll have to wait until match sim to see if that reputation can be maintained.
No Sinn and no Farrell this week so again we can’t use match simulation as any type of clue as to who is likely to take the majority of the Houston share of points that have left the backline.
Jason Horne Francis did himself no harm as warranting selection in our forward lines as a premium option in AFL Fantasy Draft. His words were that he is going to spend more time in the midfield this week. Most important his actions backed up those words and he was very good from the midfield this week at training.
High Performance manager at Richmond singled out Jacob Hopper as the one that excited him the most this season. As long as he can stay on the park he’s shaping as a great sleeper for our midfields in draft.
We recently got a scare for AFL Fantasy Draft relevant players Jack Sinclair and Mason Wood. As of today, they’ve avoided serious damage but will need to keep an eye out early in the season.
Lyon was doing Lyon things this week declaring Rowan Marshall would play in Round 1. Lyon may have been looking like he was talking to the media, but he was really talking to Matthew Nicks as the Saints verse Adelaide in round 1. Let the mind games begin.
Dean Cox, Matt Roberts and Mark McVeigh. They are the three people that came out this week and talked up the great preseason and hybrid midfield role for Callum Mills. He has become a high-end Tier 3 in our AFL Fantasy Draft rankings. He could easily become Tier 2 by the time the preseason games are done.
Isaac Heeney hasn’t taken a single step backwards since his disappointing grand final. Draft him with confidence.
Sam Wicks has been training with the defence this preseason but not in the distributor role we would like to consider him as an option.
The Eagles are running really thin at the moment so you can’t read in to any of the hype. Baker “dominating” off half back and Graham “dominating” the midfield can’t be read in to yet. The more promising out of the two is Graham with the role he appears to be earmarked for due to all the injuries at West Coast. We have him ahead of Baker in our 2025 AFL Fantasy rankings.
Duggan is still playing midfield during the match simulations and we need this to change by the end of the practice match games for him to slide up our rankings.
We now know that Matt Kennedy hasn’t been pigeonholed for any certain roles this year. Can expect inconsistent scoring from him but as discussed in our Flexer article, a player like him can add better upside to your squad than forwards being drafted around him.
Lade has confirmed that the first half against Essendon next Saturday will be close to the real plan for the Bulldogs with the personnel they use and the roles they play.
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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