He's 200cm tall with an elite junior basketball background. This is Cooper Duff-Tytler, the roaming ruckman taking the 'unicorn' mantle from Luke Jackson.
'CDT' has already produced two goal of the year contenders and it's still April. In the first minute of the Calder Cannons' season up against fellow first-round ruck Louis Emmett, Duff-Tytler pushed forward from the centre bounce, received the ball on the run and kicked truly as he broke through the forward 50 arc.
Would you draft a ruckman at #1?
— Jasper Chellappah (@Jasperc53) April 22, 2025
For a club to get their hands on Cooper Duff-Tytler they may well have to. Profile on CDT drops tomorrow. @ESPNAusNZ #AFLDraft pic.twitter.com/Pyo7rKvbQ1
Two weeks later he did it again, this time against AFL-listed competition for the AFL Academy. It was an early sign that Duff-Tytler was making good on the flashes he showed as a bottom-ager.
Now with his first full football pre-season under his belt, CDT has blown away the competition to stand head and shoulders above the chasing pack of tall prospects in this draft. The 17-year-old boasts remarkable skill at his size. He has brilliant hands in the contest and acts as that fourth midfielder when the ball hits the deck at centre bounces. Those moments are when Duff-Tytler is at his best -- he butters up and pushes forward hard to test his opponent aerobically, meaning he finds a lot of the ball and routinely hits the scoreboard.
The hard-running tall has played ahead of the ball to good effect in the past and offers presence down the line. But it's on-ball where his traits are best utilised. Duff-Tytler has begun 2025 in red-hot form, averaging 25 disposals and a goal for Calder and performing strongly against Richmond's Mate Colina rucking for the AFL Academy.
He's clean and incisive with his movement, acting as the pivot for his midfield mates to find space out of the clinches. Then outside of stoppage he gets on his bike with a bounding gait. By the fourth quarter he's typically broken the spirit of his direct opponent.
Just three games is all it has taken for recruiters to view CDT as a top-10 lock. He's slightly undersized at 200cm and needs to develop his body before becoming the first option for a club, but the blueprint has been laid out for recruiters to clearly see what he will become at the next level.
Duff-Tytler was playing NBL1 at 16 years of age. In 2023 he won gold for Australia at the U16 Asian Championships starting alongside Melbourne United's Dash Daniels. Already playing at the semi-professional level, he chose to pursue football after a stellar Futures game outing on the MCG before the AFL Grand Final.
A look at Cooper Duff-Tytler the basketballer. Won a gold medal representing Australia alongside Melbourne United's Dash Daniels at the U16 Asian Championships. Played NBL1 at 16 but chose footy towards the end of 2024.
— Jasper Chellappah (@Jasperc53) April 22, 2025
Basketball Background™️ @ESPNAusNZ #AFLDraft pic.twitter.com/CivR28KoWC
So how high does Duff-Tytler land? The past five premiership ruckmen are Darcy Fort, Darcy Cameron, Rhys Stanley, Max Gawn and Toby Nankervis. There's an outlier amongst that crop, but the common theme is battle-hardened bodies who can equal the contest and let the star on-ballers get to work.
The modern day ruck needs to get around the ground. But the most important traits to possess are still in the air. There are other ruckmen that do more than that - Gawn is the decade's best example, Tim English can run with the best midfielders and Brodie Grundy has been a contested behemoth in the past. But history suggests those abilities are all superfluous in contributing to a premiership.
It's more or less reflected at the top of the draft board each season, too. Similar to Duff-Tytler, Luke Jackson was touted as the unicorn of the position, able to ruck, rove and goal all in the one package. It saw him jump up to No. 3 on draft night. Matthew Kreuzer in 2009 was the last example of a ruckman being taken at the top spot, and Nic Naitanui landed at No. 2 the year prior.
That is the full list of ruckmen taken in the top 5 of an AFL Draft over the past 17 years. It's more likely that you find your premiership ruckman via the rookie draft or trade table than the first round.
The big question recruiters are asking themselves is if they see the future of the ruck position changing from here. On paper, a fourth midfielder at centre bounces is game-changing. A talent that can leap over opposition rucks, follow up with clean hands and push forward to hit the scoreboard should be highly valued in a copycat league - simply because you can't replicate that talent.
The challenge for CDT now is to showcase the future of the ruck position.