The 3 Things to Help You Get Drafted In The AFL

In this blog, I provide you with important aspects to focus on if you are an aspiring AFL draftee.

Which are:

• Kicking

• Clean hands

• Competitve spirit

As someone who was selected by the GWS Giants as a 17-year-old - I share my personal insights, along with a recent interview I conducted with a state u/18 football selector.

Keep reading to learn more about the key areas and how you can develop them!

(Photo courtesy of afl.com.au)

My interview with SANFL’s Talent and Coaching Manager and former under 18’s coach, Brenton Phillips, identified the 3 key areas that makes a player stand out and how they can get selected into the state u16 and u18 football teams and get drafted.

While these are the most important areas that Brenton believes helps a player stand out, there are other aspects that are taken into consideration by AFL scouts and coaches.

Physical Testing

The AFL National Draft Combine use physical testing to help identify talented players. These tests are the:

• 20m sprint

• 6 x 30-metre repeat sprint

• Change of direction

• Standing vertical jump

• Running vertical jump

• 20-metre shuttle run

While it is important to show your fitness (speed, power, strength, agility, endurance) during testing - you do not want to test poorly - it is more important to demonstrate it in games (GPS data, observations etc.)

If you can take the ball cleanly it makes up for a lack of pace!

Skill Proficiency

While physical testing is important, it is even more critical to demonstrate skill proficiency, as it has a greater influence on match outcomes.

Again, it is more important to demonstrate your skillfulness in games, however the AFL National Draft Combine has 3 skill assessments:

• Nathan Buckley Kicking Test

• Matthew Lloyd Clean Hands Test

• Brad Johnson Goalkicking Test

(Photo courtesy of afl.com.au)

Brenton does not think these tests are good measures, as “they do not accurately replicate the contexts in which the skills are executed, and decisions are made in a game”.

"The most important time to show your skills is in games and trainings"

These tests are performed in an isolated setting and “lack the identification of key components such as decision making, game tempo adjustment, and tactical awareness” (Burgess and Naughton, 2010). Research has recently suggested the use of a small-sided game (5v6) is a more time efficient and realistic way to identify talented youth players, showing 97% accuracy at identifying player skill levels (Bonney et al., 2020).

While I do not think we will see small-sided games being conducted at the AFL combine; it would not surprise me if soon we see a more complex kicking test that measures a variety of kicks across the entire field.

3 key areas

Elaborating on the 3 main areas that make a talented player:

1. The ability to kick the football – “Kicking is the most important aspect of the game [It has always been], and it still is the most important”, Brenton says. Continue to look for ways to improve your kicking – whether that be your ability to kick at high speeds, under pressure, your accuracy, your distance, your opposite foot. There are many types of kicks in football – that’s what makes our game so great. You need to practice them and refine your technique to be the best it can! Follow a structured guide and film your kicks so you can analyse your technique.

2. The ability to take the ball cleanly – “If you can’t take the ball cleanly you get mown down. You fumble and people go past the contest”. Are you clean at pace? Can you take ground balls and half-volleys cleanly? Do you practice ground balls that are rolling away from you? Brenton believes that if you can take the ball cleanly it makes up for a lack of pace!

3. A genuine competitive spirit – “A will to win the contest”. This a hard one to measure but the great players demonstrate this on and off the field. Show desperation to win the ball and put your body on the line for your teammates. Never give up. Run hard. Hunt the football. Compete at trainings. Become strong both physically and mentally.

Increase your chances of getting drafted

If you want to improve your game check I offer elite-level coaching in an accessible and affordable way.

You can start by downloading my comprehensive AFL Kicking Guide by clicking the button below:

The Kicking Consultant aka Josh Growden is a High Performance Coach making elite-level coaching accessible and affordable to all - not just the professionals. He is more than just an expert kicking coach - holding a Masters degree in High Performance Sport from the University of Technology Sydney, a Bachelors degree in Sports Science from Louisiana State University, and is a ASCA accredited Strength & Conditioning coach.

You can watch a condensed version of the interview below:

References

Brenton Phillips, personal communication (2021).

Bonney, N., Berry, J., Ball, K., & Larkin, P. (2019). Validity and reliability of an Australian football small-sided game to assess kicking proficiency. Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(1), 79–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2019.1681864

Burgess, D. J., & Naughton, G. A. (2010). Talent Development in Adolescent Team Sports: A Review. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 5(1), 103–116. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijspp.5.1.103

Gogos, B. J., Larkin, P., Haycraft, J. A. Z., Collier, N. F., & Robertson, S. (2020). Combine performance, draft position and playing position are poor predictors of player career outcomes in the Australian Football League. PLOS ONE, 15(6), e0234400. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234400