AFL Draft Report CardJack Jovanovski, Ben Cotton, Ben Waterworth and Will Faulkner
Fox Sports
November 21st, 2025 RICHMONDIt was hard for Richmond to go wrong with its opening pair of selections, having the choice of the open pool after Willem Duursma and Cooper Duff-Tytler were the first two non-club-tied players off the board.
In a telling pre-draft move, the Tigers — who’d been strongly linked to Sam Cumming, Sullivan Robey, Xavier Taylor and Sam Grlj with their first two picks — visited Cumming and his family in the days prior to the draft in a clear indication of the club’s interest.
And the Tigers got a good one in the North Adelaide product, who’s highly regarded for his class, power, speed, agility and competitiveness. Cumming has drawn Isaac Heeney comparisons due to his ability to go forward and hit the scoreboard.
Then Richmond swung a surprise, opting to take Eastern Ranges line-breaker Grlj with the eighth overall pick after it seemed he was destined to fall out of the top 10.
Could they have traded down from no.8 and still gotten Grlj? That’s a question worth asking.
“Was surprised, we thought maybe Sullivan Robey might get taken, but they have gone for maybe more of the need,” dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy.
“They have loaded up through the midfield and forward half of the ground, now they get the explosive half back that can set the game off on counter-attack.”
Passing on Robey and Taylor in particular was notable, but it’s hard to pick a fault in the two top talents the Tigers came away with.
Gieschen and company then took bolter Zane Peucker in the second round. The forward-midfielder averaged 25 disposals, 1.5 goals, and 5.5 score involvements this year for the Woodville West-Torrens under-18s.
They capped their work by pouncing on Noah Roberts-Thomson — cousin of former Sydney Swans dual premiership player Lewis — in the late third round.
Grade: B-
Club-by-club rating:Gold Coast A+
Essendon A
Carlton A-
North Melb A-
West Coast A-
Adelaide B
Brisbane B
Hawthorn B
Sydney B
Fremantle B-
Melbourne B-
Richmond B-
St Kilda B-
Geelong C+
GWS C+
W.Bulldogs C+
Collingwood C-
Port Adelaide N/A
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-draft-2025-fox-footy-report-card-every-teams-draft-picks-graded-and-analysed-who-your-team-picked-best-and-worst-selections-analysis/news-story/63a5611ac14f173e0fac823cbcb07ee0
