THE WEEKEND before round one has traditionally been the prime time for leagues to host their AFL Fantasy Draft.

This year, during Opening Round, thousands of leagues will be scheduling their drafts with the footy on in the background.

FANTASY DRAFT KIT Download your draft bible here

To have a successful drafting experience, commissioners and participating coaches have a few jobs to tick off in the lead up to the important day.

Tips for commissioners

The commissioner is usually the most organised and trusted leader of the league. They oversee everything from the league settings to settling dodgy trades and team-to-team agreements. As the boss of the league, tick these tasks off the to-do list:

Check your settings: Make sure you've got the right number of coaches and the squad size is how you want it. Draft time is scheduled, and all teams are in and ready to go. Make sure your settings are how you like it, because in 2025… you have more flexibility than ever before. Consider checking out the Pro subscription that allows advanced settings including custom scoring and other commissioners' tools.

Add some extra fun to your league: Firstly, plan an event…. Or even better, block out the whole weekend. If you can all get together, do it! If not, hook up a group video call. Don't forget to get a group chat going so the banter can fly around during the draft and all season long.

Also think about how you will do your draft order. You could come up with a fun new exciting concept or… just hit the ‘randomise order’ button which will also do the trick.

You can change the draft order by going into Settings > Manage Draft Order. You might have prizes up for grabs for the winner, however, you should also seriously consider a punishment for the coach who gets the wooden spoon… this keeps everyone engaged!

Tips for coaches

It's the big day. Set yourself up for success with some prior preparation.

Download the Draft Kit: This 29-page document is your draft bible. This provides you with plenty of information to help you get ready for draft day … and to use as an assistant coach throughout the draft. It features rankings for each position, a mock draft, draftee stats and sleepers/busts/keepers from each club.

Set your pre-draft rankings: Before the draft you can set your ranks or use rankings already complied by some Fantasy experts. This means you can save yourself some stress when you hear the new 'chime' feature and you're on the clock ready to pick.

Don't forget to hit 'ignore' on players with long-term injuries. You don't want to be drafting Nic Newman or Dom Sheed who are set to miss the season with ACL injuries.

Injury news

Before drafting a player in the first few rounds, make sure you know that they are fully fit heading into round one. Here are some quality players who still need to be drafted but are missing the start of the season.

Know the draft depth

Whether it's a shallow league with under 150 picks, or something that is pushing out well over 250 players drafted, being across the depth for each position is important.

As you can see in the table below, there is more depth when looking at the top scoring midfielders compared to the defenders. Therefore, selecting those top defenders who will average 100-plus is more important than midfielders as there will be plenty of these midfielders capable of averaging 100 throughout the draft. However, locking one away early with 'captains on' in your league settings can be beneficial.

As for rucks, follow the same concept. If you have a late first-round pick, it will be likely that Tristan Xerri, Rowan Marshall, Max Gawn and even Tim English are already off the table… this is fine, don't panic, just start exploring other options.

Late in the draft (before coaches start filling their benches), players like Jordon Sweet and Lloyd Meek will be there as some of the final rucks selected. Both are capable of averaging 90-plus this year so there is no need to select them too early.

ULTIMATE STATS SHEET Download all the stats you need here

Value picks based on ADP

The ADP is the average draft pick. This data is made up of the thousands of drafts that have already been completed this pre-season.

Currently, Tristan Xerri is No.1 which is no surprise based on how he ended the 2024 season. Nick Daicos and Rowan Marshall follow, with the two-highest averaging defenders, Harry Sheezel and Lachie Whitfield rounding out the top five.

>> See up-to-date average draft pick data by navigating to 'Players' and sorting by 'ADP'

Generally, the players at the top won't win/lose you the draft. Sure, there can be some clangers, but barring injury, most are reliable.

The true value is finding the hidden gems (or sleepers) later in the draft.

Here are some players that have been taken from outside the top 75 picks that you should consider, based on their potential upside and pre-season scores.

Defenders

79 – Daniel Rioli
92 – Matt Roberts
109 – Harry Perryman
146 – John Noble
174 – Sam De Koning
215 – Joel Freijah

Midfielders

91 – Will Day
95 – Tom Liberatore
116 – Finn Callaghan
127 – Adam Cerra
136 – Tom Powell
160 – Ollie Hollands

Rucks

82 – Kieren Briggs
121 – Jordon Sweet
137 – Sean Darcy

Forwards

98 – Ryley Sanders
125 – Jack Graham
152 – Mattaes Phillipou
182 – Ben Hobbs
185 – Jeremy Finlayson
201 – Hugo Garcia

Make sure you adjust your ranks based on where you would be happy to take them and get yourself set up for a great draft day.

Happy drafting!

Get expert advice from The Traders during the pre-season in the Fantasy Hub. Follow AFL Fantasy on X and Instagram and 'like' the Facebook page to join in the conversation.