Essendon enters next month’s AFL draft armed with pick No. 4 and AFL Media’s Cal Twomey believes there’s plenty of viable candidates to be taken with that selection.
While they currently hold the fourth slot, with Will Ashcroft destined to head to Brisbane early in the draft as a father-son, the pick will likely slide to fifth where the Bombers will make their call on a range of prospects.
Given that Ashcroft, Aaron Cadman, George Wardlaw and Harry Sheezel could already be off the board when the Bombers get on the clock, Twomey detailed which talents the Bombers will consider with their prized selection.
“I think both of those guys (Elijah Tsatas or Bailey Humphrey) would be in the mix, there are some other guys that would be in contention as well,” Twomey said on SEN Dwayne’s World.
“Reuben Ginbey, the midfielder from Western Australia, Mattaes Phillipou, the South Australian midfielder – those two guys I think should appeal as taller midfielders.
“We all know Essendon’s midfield mix probably doesn’t have those guys who are the 189-190cm types, which those two are and it would add a little bit of difference.
“But Tsatas is a quality player, I’ve been a big fan of his and as I’ve said before, some of the games he played were standouts.
“He’s 186-187cm so again, he is a little taller than what that group has.
“And Bailey Humphrey has some Toby Greene tendencies, I think.
“He’s the small forward/midfielder, he’s 185cm, so he’s not that small but he’s powerful, he can jump, he takes marks, he registers a stack of shots on goal and put together a really exciting season.
“So, he would be a point of difference in a different way, he would start as a forward.
“For the Bombers, all of those guys should be right in that mix.”
The top-five selection will be the Bombers’ fourth top-10 selection since the 2020 National Draft.