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11mo ago

AFL Draft Ends With 60 Picks, Duursma No. 1 as Bidding Rules Shape the Order

Fan backlash over academy and father–son matching dominated the fallout from the two-night event, which finished with a record-low 60 selections.

West Coast have selected Willem Duursma with the first pick of the draft.
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Overview

  • West Coast selected Willem Duursma at No.1, drove early bidding on tied prospects with its top-two start, traded up mid-first round, and added Cooper Duff-Tytler and Josh Lindsay.
  • Gold Coast matched four bids to lock in academy products Zeke Uwland, Dylan Patterson, Jai Murray and Beau Addinsall after banking draft points via trades.
  • Carlton secured father–son Harry Dean at No.3 by matching an early bid after redistributing picks to amass the required points.
  • Essendon leveraged pre-draft deals to grab Sullivan Robey at No.9, Jacob Farrow at No.10 and Dyson Sharp at No.13, complementing further depth on night two.
  • The draft closed at 60 total selections across two nights, a record low, and the volume of matched bids intensified scrutiny of the points-matching system.