ONLY two other clubs met with Hugo Garcia in his draft year, before St Kilda selected him at pick 50.
The late Chris Toce was still recruiting for the Saints and was confident, despite the lack of interest elsewhere, that the 185cm midfielder with Spanish and Italian descent had the traits that would stack up at AFL level.
Dual Brownlow Medallist Robert Harvey knew Garcia had something across his first pre-season at Moorabbin and made that clear to many inside and outside the building.
After playing nine games in his first season at the Saints in 2024, Garcia played 17 games last year in a big step forward.
Last off-season, Ross Lyon encouraged the renowned workhorse to tweak his body shape to build his tank and his strength at the same time. He did so, improving his 3km time-trial time and his strength markers in the gym, while dropping his body fat percentage.
This year, Garcia hasn't missed a game and is one of the most improved players across the competition according to Champion Data’s Player Ratings, rising from 239 in 2025 to 39 in 2026.
That puts him ninth in the AFL for the most improved players this season, by that metric, behind Finn O'Sullivan, Charlie Cameron, Harry Sharp, Tom Sparrow, Harvey Thomas, Connor Macdonald, Matt Carroll and Ollie Florent.
Everything is up across the board, but the area that is setting Garcia apart right now is his work at the coalface. That’s where he earns his living.
|
Season |
Rating Pts |
D |
MG |
I50 |
CP |
UP |
C |
CC |
G |
SA |
SI |
T |
|
2024 |
4.5 |
7.8 |
75 |
0.6 |
4.6 |
3.2 |
1.1 |
0.2 |
0.1 |
0.4 |
2.3 |
4.4 |
|
2025 |
8.0 |
15.6 |
239 |
2.8 |
6.4 |
9.1 |
3.9 |
1.5 |
0.2 |
0.5 |
3.2 |
5.5 |
|
2026 |
13.1* |
21.9* |
290* |
3.2* |
10.0* |
11.8* |
6.3* |
3.0* |
0.5* |
1.2* |
6.3* |
5.3 |
|
*Career-high |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Assumption College product is rated No.10 in the AFL for clearances at 6.3 per game and No.12 for centre bounce clearances with 3.0.
And it is his impact in the centre square that stacks up among the best inside midfielders in the competition.
St Kilda wins clearance 55.7 per cent of the time when Garcia is in there and loses it 36.1 per cent, for a differential of +19.6%. That is the best differential in the AFL, ahead of stoppage specialists Lachie Neale, Marcus Bontempelli and Andrew Brayshaw.
|
Player |
Club |
% Diff |
|
Hugo Garcia |
St Kilda |
+19.6 |
|
Sam Draper |
Brisbane |
+17.2 |
|
Lachie Neale |
Brisbane |
+16.2 |
|
Caleb Windsor |
Melbourne |
+14.2 |
|
Marcus Bontempelli |
Western Bulldogs |
+14.2 |
|
Matthew Kennedy |
Western Bulldogs |
+13.6 |
|
Andrew Brayshaw |
Fremantle |
+13.0 |
|
Josh Dunkley |
Brisbane |
+13.0 |
|
Finn O'Sullivan |
North Melbourne |
+11.9 |
|
Will Ashcroft |
Brisbane |
+11.3 |
St Kilda spent a fortune last off-season, signing Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni from Carlton as free agents, before executing trades for Sam Flanders from Gold Coast and Liam Ryan from West Coast.
But ahead of the trip to Perth to face Fremantle in round 11, Garcia is the No.3 rated player at St Kilda in 2026 behind only Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (16.3) and Jack Sinclair (14.0) on 13.1 player ratings points, ahead of Max Hall (12.3) and Cal Wilkie (11.7).
Wilkie was one of Toce’s best picks during his time at St Kilda while the recruiter was also instrumental in selecting Wanganeen-Milera at No.11 in 2021. Rowan Marshall has proven to be great value out of the Rookie Draft, while Cooper Sharman is another hit out of the mid-season draft.
And now Garcia is proving to be another shrewd move by Toce, who tragically passed away from cancer in 2024, after moving from the Saints to Richmond.
And Garcia is yet another bargain from that 2023 draft class, which also saw Logan Morris (pick No.31), Joel Freijah (45) and Archie Roberts (54) go for late picks.
Garcia might not quite be in that bracket yet, but he is certainly fighting above his weight division in 2026.