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          AFL Draft 2025: Inside the bids, trades and chaos that made up the first round

          • Jasper Chellappah
          Nov 19, 2025, 02:30 PM ET

          The AFL Draft promised chaos and delivered in spades. With nine bids and a last-gasp live trade changing its complexion, this is the inside story of how the first round played out.

          The Eagles stuck to the script in taking Willem Duursma and Cooper Duff-Tytler between bids, and had been kind enough to inform Carlton of their decision to bid on father-son backman Harry Dean in the days leading in. The Blues pulled the trigger on trades for picks 9 and 11 to bring in Dean, who became the earliest key defender taken in the draft since Jacob Weitering.

          The Tigers' flow-on effect

          Richmond also followed the script until pick 8, where Rhy Gieschen threw a big cat amongst the pigeons.

          The selection of Sam Grlj - the best athlete in the pool who had impressed for their VFL side - gave Essendon and Melbourne an extra name to consider. The Bombers with picks 9, 10 and 13 had to work out which of their top three prospects was most likely to make it through.

          The Dees had been strongly linked to WA's Jacob Farrow in the draft's lead-up and would've snapped up the bolter Sullivan Robey if he was available. But they were likely to overlook SA captain Dyson Sharp in favour of getting more speed on the ball under new coach Steven King.

          Despite placing Sharp ahead of Farrow on their own draft board, Matt Rosa's team made the bold decision to let the Larke Medallist through to the Demons' picks. In doing so, the Dons were at the mercy of rivals trading up to 11 or 12 to land the sliding South Australian.

          They learned quickly the types of trades Melbourne knocked back to leave Sharp on the board at 13. Essendon received three different trade options from Adelaide, including a deal containing their first round pick this year and next year with the Bombers' 2026 second-rounder headed back.

          Rosa's team rejected the trade offer and the Crows' pick landed forward Mitch Marsh at 22 on Wednesday night. They weren't the only team to come calling for Sharp, though, with multiple clubs trying to work their way up the board and land the best performing junior footballer in the country across the past 24 months.

          The Dons turned them all down to lock in the childhood Don, with his idol and namesake Dyson Heppell presenting Sharps' jumper on-stage.

          The Dons' new trio had only met for the first time at the draft combine in October, with Farrow not selected in WA's original state squad and Robey absent from the elite pathways until the second half of the season. Both had risen from outside draft contention to the top 10 within six months.

          Kozzy's last second Marvel dash

          Meanwhile, the Dees were attempting to keep their own selections under wraps. Despite being strongly linked to late invitee Cameron Nairn, Jason Taylor's team couldn't pass up resolute defender Xavier Taylor after falling out of the top 10. Brandishing his own demon caricature tattoo, it was destiny for Taylor to wear the red and blue.

          Melbourne's second of back-to-back selections had been decided in advance. In partnership with Latrelle Pickett's management they had quietly flown the exciting forward over from South Australia to attend the draft. What Pickett didn't know was that his cousin Kysaiah would be presenting his jumper on-stage.

          It made for the most emotional moment of the night, with Latrelle and Kozzy embracing as Demons teammates for the first time.

          Pickett follows in the footsteps of legendary Indigenous stars Cyril Rioli and Shaun Burgoyne to be drafted at pick 12, as well as Kozzy himself.

          His sharp rise was North Melbourne's gain with Lachy Dovaston falling into their arms. The Roos had traded up to Carlton's pick in the hopes of their top-rated small forward being available. His infectious energy and elite goal nous - having kicked 53 majors in all competitions this year - was a no-brainer selection for Brady Rawlings' team.

          Dissecting the Eagles-Hawks trade

          The only live trade involving a swap of first round selections came between West Coast and Hawthorn. The Hawks at pick 17 were all too eager to move back a singular spot when presented with pick 18 and a future second-rounder - tied to St Kilda via the Liam Ryan deal.

          They were keen on Nairn after being overlooked by the Dees, and were confident the Eagles had other targets in mind. Not only did the shift down a spot not impact who they would land, but it gave Mark McKenzie's team another potential top 25 selection in a year where Sam Walsh and Zak Butters are out of contract and Zach Merrett will again assess his options.

          It was significant draft capital for West Coast to dish out; North had paid a future second to move up from 25 to 11 pre-draft. But Duane Massey's team had a plan to stretch Gold Coast's points and land one of their star academy graduates.

          A move up the board added to the points burden, and an initial bid on talented wingman Jai Murray set the Eagles up to double down on Beau Addinsall. A quality on-baller who finds the footy at will, Addinsall was considered gettable by rivals heading into the draft. But that was before the Suns orchestrated four separate trades to add to their draft hand at the start of the night.

          It meant the Suns could scrounge the points to match the Murray and Addinsall bids in succession, leaving West Coast empty-handed on club-tied talent despite making four bids inside the first 20 picks on night one.

          The best kick in the draft was a nice consolation prize, with Falcons captain Josh Lindsay heading west. Duursma, Duff-Tytler and Lindsay is a fantastic haul for the Eagles, but this trade may come back to haunt them in 12 months' time given it was unnecessary to land the classy defender.

          As expected, Hawthorn found Nairn still on the board and snapped up the forward-half conduit, who was one of a record seven South Australians taken in the first round.

          Points deficit wards off Swans & Bombers

          The possibility of a points deficit impacting 2026 picks was enough for Lachie Carmichael and Adam Sweid to be ripped out of club-tied academies.

          With Oskar Taylor and Lindsay off the board, the Dogs launched a bid on Allies MVP and Swans Academy graduate Carmichael. Having matched the Giants' call on Harry Kyle and a bid on Max King looming, Sydney opted to pass and allow Carmichael to land at Whitten Oval. The defender's precise ball use and willingness to get up the ground to impact was of value to the Dogs as they targeted more halfback run.

          Fremantle had picked out Sweid from a long way back and with the last pick in the first round made their move. Essendon would have gone nearly 200 points into deficit on their 2026 first round pick had they matched. Despite getting pick 43 from the Blues in their deal to acquire no. 9, no bids on Jack Ison or Tylah Williams and the Swans passing on Carmichael meant that selection had only come into 36 and wasn't worth enough points.

          The Bombers liked Sweid, but the Dockers loved him. His ability to start at half forward, roll up to stoppages and hurt the opposition on the way back to goal was why David Walls' team rated him significantly higher than pick 25. After landing the steal of 2024 in Murphy Reid the Dockers added another creative midfielder that will start ahead of the ball.

          Following the first round, Richmond's recruiting manager Rhy Gieschen had some choice words for the state of the draft system.

          "The system needs to be addressed... if you finish second-bottom on the ladder you probably don't expect to have pick 7," he said.

          Four bids inside the first six selections is a sign of the system working as AFL House intended. But its results skew the equalisation that the draft aims to implement in the competition when the semi-finalist Suns land four first-round talents and the back-to-back premiers bring in another star midfielder.