THERE'S a saying about proper preparation preventing poor performance and nothing rings truer ahead of an AFL Fantasy Draft.
Our draft game goes from strength-to-strength following a rebuild for last season and a series of upgrades for the 2026 season to make your experience even better.
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Mock Drafts were introduced to allow coaches to familiarise themselves with the all-new Draft Board and to practice ahead of draft day. You can choose the settings to match your league and select your drafting position to mirror your experience when you are doing it for real.
You can fly solo against the CPU where the 'bots' have become much smarter with their auto pick and for the first time, there is a Mock Draft Lobby where you can take on real people every 30 minutes.
>>Join a Public Mock Draft
>>Create your own Mock Draft
Commissioners can set up their leagues in preparation for the new season. Get your settings sorted, choose a date for draft day, invite your mates and have some fun.
Warnie's Mock Draft
Most of the leagues I play in feature line-ups of three defenders, four midfielders, one ruck and three forwards with four interchange players. It's a nice simple format for many of my mates where 150 players are drafted.
It is usually completed in around an hour. A Mock Draft against the bots can be over in a few minutes!
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I chose to have pick 10 in this 10-team league with 60-second picks (the bots only take a few seconds). This allowed me to make some calls on the turn in the snake draft. I also took advantage of the 'Pause Draft' setting on the Draft Board in order to assess the lay of the land and analyse the picks that have previously been made and what I think teams may do in the future.
While every draft is different, there were no surprises that Harry Sheezel and Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera were taken with the first two picks. Four rucks were taken before my selection, therefore I held out until the eighth round to grab Luke Jackson, the 10th ruck off the board.
I felt I was lucky to get Nick Daicos and Lachie Whitfield as my first two players while Jordan Dawson should never slide that far!
Forwards are going to be tricky. Izak Rankine was the 10th forward taken and I think he should outperform his ADP (average draft pick). There is value in later rounds as I was able to snag Jordan De Goey, Sam Draper and Josh Rachele, who all carry FWD status, on my bench.
All in all, I drafted a very solid squad. I like the team Luca drafted and the punt midfielder strategy Layla employed could be a winner (albeit Jack Viney isn't a fantastic pick as their first midfielder).
Practice your drafts ahead of draft day via the Mock Draft Hub on the website or download the recently updated app on Apple and Android.
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.