How Butters, mega deal shook up AFL draft… and early whispers on top callsBen Waterworth
Fox Sports
October 12th, 2026Should the Tigers land Pick 5, they’d hold the second and fifth selections – one of the strongest hands in this year’s draft.
So what does the reshaped order mean for how the early stages of this year’s draft could play out?
Assuming Port Adelaide matches a Pick 1 bid on Cochrane, Essendon takes GWV Rebels star Ethan Drever and West Coast selects local gun Heath Mellody with its first pick at No.3, Sandringham Dragons high-flyer Arki Butler would be a major contender to be taken by either Richmond (Pick 2) or Melbourne (Pick 4).
Butler, who has drawn comparisons to new Cat Toby Greene, is blessed with freakish talent, athleticism, clean hands, class and a great goal sense. He’s not the complete player yet, but if the club that drafts Butler can help him live up to his full potential, it’ll be greatly rewarded for its investment.
Multiple sources suggested Butler would sit at the very pointy end of both the Tigers’ and Demons’ club draft boards. Would that prompt Richmond to select him with its first pick to ensure Melbourne can’t get him with Pick 4?
Another player to keep an eye on in the top five is Mitch Harris, who’s now widely regarded as the best key defender in the draft pool after a strong Under 18s carnival for SA and excellent displays for Woodville-West Torrens’ SANFL league side.
A tough, courageous and close-checking defender, Harris has improved his one-on-one defensive capabilities this year to complement his intercept game that’d already blossomed in his bottom-age year.
While the Tigers are unlikely to consider him with their first pick, five clubs spoken to by foxfooty.com.au on Monday linked the Demons to Harris.
In fact, sources suggested Harris might’ve been a key reason for Melbourne’s move up to Pick 4 last week, amid whispers North Melbourne (Pick 6) has interest in the 196cm backman. And even if the Kangaroos must send Pick 5 Sydney’s way to help them land All-Australian Nick Blakey via trade, Melbourne’s move could still pay off, with a player like Harris potentially helping fill a key defensive chasm at the Swans long term.
The other Harris curveball is the Adelaide Crows, who’ve been strongly linked to Harris, as first reported by 9 News Adelaide’s Braden Ingram.
The Crows don’t enter the draft until Pick 15, but are keen to move up the order to put them in a strong spot to draft Harris, according to clubs. They’d love North’s pick — which could also be part of a potential Nick Murray trade — but the complication will be if Sydney demands Pick 6 from the Roos in a Blakey trade.
Another theory among clubs in recent days is that both the Tigers and Demons would now be more comfortable taking 204cm Northern Knights ruck Harry Van Hattum with an early pick.
Van Hattum has been described as a generational prospect with an enormous vertical leap, great hit-out craft and the ability to become a fourth midfielder post-ruck contest.
Only a few clubs, however, have been prepared to use a top-five draft pick on rucks this century. The Demons used Pick 3 in 2019 to take Luke Jackson, who became a premiership player two years later. Carlton’s Matthew Kreuzer (Pick 1, 2007) and West Coast’s Nic Naitanui (Pick 2, 2008) are the only other rucks taken in the top five since 2000.
But with both Richmond and Melbourne now holding multiple picks inside the top 12, it wouldn’t be a major shock if either club used its first selection on Van Hattum, knowing it could pair him with another high-end talent a few picks later.
Butler and Van Hattum would arguably be Richmond’s ideal draft scenario. Butler would provide much-needed forward-half spark and Van Hattum would be the long-term replacement for triple premiership ruck Toby Nankervis.
Van Hattum could also appeal to Melbourne as a long-term successor to legendary Demon Max Gawn, learning from the veteran ruckman before eventually taking over.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/draft/afl-draft-2026-port-adelaide-pick-5-trade-what-mega-trade-and-zak-butters-deal-means-for-richmond-tigers-and-melbourne-demons-top-picks/news-story/cedf74bbf38d17703e6fcdf8124a5b77
