THIS point of the year offers hope to fans of the bottom-placed clubs.

The NAB AFL Under-18 Championships are underway, and players eligible for this year's draft are emerging.

So in this week's Road to the Draft podcast, draft reporter Callum Twomey and host Adam McNicol look at the players who might be on the radar of bottom-three teams Brisbane Lions, Greater Western Sydney and St Kilda.

We speak to one of those players, South Australia's Sam Durdin, for a podcast interview, while also reviewing last weekend's South Australia v Western Australia game.

The podcast will also take a quick retrospective on the 2012 NAB AFL Draft crop to see, two years on, how that group is faring and who is best performed.

Road to the Draft will be available on AFL.com.au and iTunes every week throughout the under-18 national carnival.

Watch the Draft Days documentary