NEARLY a third of the invitees to the 2024 Telstra AFL Draft Combine are from Vic Country, with potential top-10 picks Harvey Langford, Finn O'Sullivan and Sam Lalor amongst the group.
The AFL has selected 65 draft prospects from around the country to attend the three-day testing in Melbourne between Friday, October 4 and Sunday, October 6.
The selections were based on nominations from AFL recruiters, with each club putting forward its list of 50 prospects. Those with fewer nominations are likely to be invited to respective state Draft Combines, with the first 25 of that group also notified this week.
The Vic Country regions had the biggest group, with 21 players earning selection as national Combine players. As well as Langford, O'Sullivan and Lalor, other potential first-round picks Alix Tauru, Tobie Travaglia, Xavier Lindsay and Joe Berry are among the Vic Country contingent to undertake the testing, which will again see prospects do vertical and running vertical jumps, the 20-metre sprint, agility test and the 2km time trial.
Vic Metro had 18 players invited, including eight from the Sandringham Dragons, which was the most represented club at the Combine. Its group consists of Murphy Reid, Levi Ashcroft, Harry Armstrong, Harrison Oliver, Luke Trainor, Taj Hotton, Josh Dolan and Adrian Cole, with several top-10 contenders in it.
Cole (St Kilda Next Generation Academy) is among the players with Academy and father-son ties to have been selected, alongside Carlton father-son pair Ben and Lucas Camporeale, Essendon NGA talent Isaac Kako and West Coast NGA product Malakai Champion.
There are six northern Academy players invited, including Gold Coast's top-10 prospect Leo Lombard.
Early draft contenders Sid Draper (South Australia) and Bo Allan (Western Australia) are the leading draft hopes from their states, which has a total of 21 players attending.
Adelaide father-son prospect Tyler Welsh is among the players picked to test at the South Australian state Combine, which will take place on Saturday, October 12. The Victorian state Combine will take place on Sunday, October 6 and the West Australian state Combine will run on October 13.
2024 NATIONAL DRAFT COMBINE LIST
VIC COUNTRY
Jasper Alger (Oakleigh Chargers)
James Barrat (Bendigo Pioneers)
Joe Berry (Murray Bushrangers)
Floyd Burmeister (Greater Western Victoria Rebels)
Harry Charleson (Greater Western Victoria Rebels)
Archer Day-Wicks (Bendigo Pioneers)
Jonty Faull (Greater Western Victoria Rebels)
Cooper Hynes (Dandenong Stingrays)
Lachie Jaques (Geelong Falcons)
Sam Lalor (Greater Western Victoria Rebels)
Harvey Langford (Dandenong Stingrays)
Xavier Lindsay (Gippsland Power)
Noah Mraz (Dandenong Stingrays)
Finn O'Sullivan (Oakleigh Chargers)
Jack Ough (Greater Western Victoria Rebels)
Alix Tauru (Gippsland Power)
Tobie Travaglia (Vic Country)
Rhys Unwin (Greater Western Victoria Rebels)
Oliver Warburton (Murray Bushrangers)
Jack Whitlock (Murray Bushrangers)
Matt Whitlock (Murray Bushrangers)
VIC METRO
Cody Anderson (Eastern Ranges)
Harry Armstrong (Sandringham Dragons)
Levi Ashcroft (Sandringham Dragons)
Adrian Cole (Sandringham Dragons)
Jesse Dattoli (Northern Knights)
Josh Dolan (Sandringham Dragons)
Tom Gross (Oakleigh Chargers)
Taj Hotton (Sandringham Dragons)
Isaac Kako (Calder Cannons)
Christian Moraes (Eastern Ranges)
Harry O'Farrell (Calder Cannons)
Harrison Oliver (Sandringham Dragons)
Murphy Reid (Sandringham Dragons)
Thomas Sims (Northern Knights)
Josh Smillie (Eastern Ranges)
Jagga Smith (Oakleigh Chargers)
Gabriel Stumpf (Northern Knights)
Luke Trainor (Sandringham Dragons)
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Ned Bowman (Norwood)
Ben Camporeale (Glenelg)
Lucas Camporeale (Glenelg)
Angus Clarke (Glenelg)
Alex Dodson (Sturt)
Sid Draper (South Adelaide)
Phoenix Hargrave (South Adelaide)
Jacob Newton (Norwood)
Charlie Nicholls (Central District)
Charlie West (Woodville-West Torrens)
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Bo Allan (Peel Thunder)
Cody Angove (Claremont)
Jaxon Artemis (South Fremantle)
Malakai Champion (Subiaco)
Hamish Davis (Claremont)
Clancy Dennis (Claremont)
Kayle Gerreyn (West Perth)
Will Hayes (Claremont)
Aiden Riddle (Claremont)
Luke Urquhart (East Fremantle)
QUEENSLAND
Leo Lombard (Gold Coast Academy)
Sam Marshall (Brisbane Academy)
NEW SOUTH WALES-ACT
Cooper Bell (Giants Academy)
Joel Cochran (Sydney Academy)
Jobe Shanahan (Bendigo Pioneers)
Logan Smith (GWS Academy)
FIRST INTAKE 2024 STATE COMBINE LIST
Benny Barrett (South Adelaide/SA)
Hugh Boxshall (Claremont/WA)
Evan Bradley (North Adelaide/SA)
Charlie Burke (Subiaco/WA)
Zane Cochrane (Oakleigh Chargers/Vic Metro)
Sam Davidson (Richmond VFL/Vic Metro)
Oliver Dean (Tasmania Devils/North Launceston)
Josaia Delana (Giants Academy/NSW-ACT)
Asher Eastham (Gippsland Power/Vic Country)
Tom Gillett (Brisbane Academy/QLD)
Lucca Grego (Western Jets/Vic Metro)
Kade Herbert (Woodville-West Torrens/SA)
Lennox Hofmann (Sandringham/Vic Metro)
Damon Hollow (Calder Cannons/Vic Metro)
Lucas Impey (Western Jets/Vic Metro)
Xavier Ivisic (Geelong Falcons/Vic Country)
Zak Johnson (Northern Knights/Vic Metro)
Ben Kennedy (Murray Bushrangers/Vic Country)
Nash King (Calder Cannons/Vic Metro)
Thomas McKay (Glenelg/South Australia)
Ricky Mentha (Gippsland Power/NT)
Josh Murphy (Murray Bushrangers/NSW-ACT)
Jayden Nguyen (Calder Cannons/Vic Metro)
Harrison Ramm (Glenelg/South Australia)
Tyler Welsh (Adelaide/South Australia)