VFL: coaches name rising talents to watch at 2025 VFL stand-alone carnival

Coburg, Frankston, Northern Bullants, Werribee, Williamstown and Port Melbourne will head to Ballarat on Saturday for the annual practice match carnival.

With league officials unable to lock in a suitable metropolitan ground, the three matches will be played at Mars Stadium.

Frankston and Port Melbourne will have the first hit-out, at 10.30am, followed by Coburg and Williamstown (1.30pm), and the Bullants and Werribee (4.30pm).

AFL recruiters will be all eyes as the triple header plays out.

They watched on as the Northern Bullants unveiled high-marking talls Brandon Ryan and Finnbar Maley, and Werribee showed off dashing defender in Sam Clohesy at the first carnival at Craigieburn in 2023.

In less than 12 months, all three were on AFL lists.

Werribee’s Riley Bice was the standout at last year’s carnival at Frankston. He finished the season as a premiership player and was drafted by the Sydney Swans.

All three matches will have 25-minute quarters with no time-on.

Club memberships will be available and entry free.

Here the coaches nominate a few players to watch on Saturday.

JAMIE CASSIDY-MCNAMARA, COBURG

Jack Lefroy: “Jack’s 24 and we think he’s ready to go after two years with Carlton VFL’s team. He’s come in and trained really well over the pre-season. He’s a pressure forward.’’

Donovan Toohey: “He had a really strong debut season last year and played the back-half of it injured. I think he’s got a lot of AFL attributes, not too dissimilar to Ben Jepson. Hopefully he can take that next step in his second year of VFL footy.’’

Matt Allison: “Matt’s clearly got more of a profile from the AFL perspective, but he’s just been super-impressive with his workrate and how he’s fitted in at the club. I’m really bullish on him, to be honest. Now he’s just got to go out there and show everyone what he’s got.’’

Jack Andrew: “Jack’s a young fella from Heidelberg. He’s pretty raw in terms of his journey not taking in the pathway system. Last year was his first year where he really locked into footy and he had a big impact for Heidelberg. He’s a no-fuss operator. He’s done the whole pre-season and he’s got speed and power and a good set of hands and he flies for his marks. He’s pretty exciting, and a pretty exciting player to watch.’’

Dom Payman: “He’s been impressive and he’s probably further ahead than what we thought when we brought him in. He’s a key forward who can go through the ruck. I debuted him at Old Trinity in 2022 and I think that was his first year where he really played footy, so he’s come a long way in a short period of time. He’s a good contested mark and he competes.’’

JACKSON KORNBERG, FRANKSTON

Harrison Coe: “He was in and out of the side last year … he had a few injuries. He’s a 203cm key forward/ruckman, very good overhead and quite combative and physical. He’s done his first full pre-season in a long time.’’

Lachie Riley: “Last year Lachie really solidified his spot in the team, as a half-forward and mid, really strong around the ball and kicks it well. He’s also actually quite good overhead and tough – he doesn’t take a backward step.’’

Oliver Moran: “He’s had a really strong pre-season, training as a third tall defender. He was really good against Werribee last Friday (in a scratch match), taking a lot of intercept marks. He’s strong in the air and uses the ball pretty well.’’

ROCKY IANNELLO (SENIOR ASSISTANT), NORTHERN BULLANTS

Josh Hamilton: “Josh played quite a bit of footy for us last year. He’s a young guy with genuine speed and a lot of ability and he’s stepped up as a leader over a pre-season. He’s a player on the rise.’’

Jackson Weidemann: “He’s an ex-Port Melbourne player and he’s come back to VFL after playing back at Albury last year. He’s a tall defender and he’s had a really good pre-season.’’

Maison Goodman: “I reckon this kid has got real quality and ability. He’s a half-forward with genuine speed and he can jump. He’s learning and developing and with another 12 months under his belt he could really be knocking on a door somewhere.’’

BRENDAN McCARTNEY, PORT MELBOURNE

Riley Polkinghorne: “I’ve brought Riley with me from North Ballarat. In my opinion, he was pretty close to the best player in the Ballarat league, Brett Bewley aside. He’s been in rehab all summer – he had a shoulder operation at the end of last season. He had a Laterjet surgery, which has a four-month recovery period. Thanks to our rehab guy, Hughie Mason, he’s come back into training the fittest he’s ever been in his life, running-wise. He’s jumped into match-play and gone really well. He’ll come in quite seamlessly for us.’’

Tex Wanganeen: “Tex has had a really good summer. He looks like he’s got his love of the game back, just the joy of running around playing footy. He’s super-talented and so creative.’’

Drew Lloyd: “I think our supporters will really enjoy watching Drew play. He’s from Balranald, recommended by some coaches I know from the area up there. He’s a footballer. He plays footy like it’s the last game he’s ever going to play in his life, just gives it everything. He’s really clever at ground level and deceptive above his head.’’

Ajang Kuol mun: “He’s a young ruckman and super-athletic and learning the ruck craft under Steve Alessio, where to put your body, how to use your body, how to recover your position when you’re pushed out of the way. We’re in the process of teaching him how to play when it’s not going to plan for him. He’s such a free spirit and he sort of plays on instinct. We want to keep him that way but we want to add a little bit of method to him. We’re helping him to learn to deal with mature ruckmen, the more crafty ruckmen he’s going to run into.’’

JIMMY ALLAN, WERRIBEE

Ryan Eyers: “He’s a recruit from Geelong VFL and Corowa-Rutherglen, a key defender who is a defend-first defender. But he backs himself in the air and we’ve been really impressed with his courage. Someone is giving to have to do it (replace Nathan Cooper) so it might well as be him.’’

Jake Smith: “He played a fair few games last year and he’s only 20. He’s a midfielder who’s fit and firing after a really good pre-season. He wins it on the inside and the outside, he’s a good runner and his ball use and composure have been important for us.’’

Jaelen Pavlidis: “We played him down back last year but in time he can become a very good midfielder, inside or outside. He’s one of those guys you can give a task to and he’ll do it very well. He was coming third in our best and fairest last year before he got injured. He’s a very good player.’’

Flynn Young: “A high half-forward with good hands overhead and good on the ground, uses the ball well and makes good decisions. He played the majority of the year after Round 6 last year and he’s had an excellent pre-season.’’

Mace Cousins: “I’m really excited about seeing Mace. He’s a halfback from Geelong VFL and Darley and he didn’t play all last year. He’s had back surgery. From what I’ve seen he’s courageous in the air and he uses the ball well, a left-footer at halfback. It might take him a bit of time to get back in the swing of things. But I think he’s going to be a good player.’’

JUSTIN PLAPP, WILLIAMSTOWN

Ben Kennedy: “This kid was at the Murray Bushrangers last year and from all reports was pretty stiff not to get picked up. He’s a medium-sized defender, kicks it well, reads the ball in flight and is really competitive. He’s one to look at it.’’

Zac Pritchard: “A key defender who’s been on our list for a couple of years but hasn’t played much because of injury – he had a ruptured ACL. But we’ve always liked him and he was a real stand-out for us on the weekend (in a scratch match against the Northern Bullants).’’

Damon Hollow: “Damon has come to us from Calder Cannons. I know some recruiters looked at him on Saturday and said, ‘Gee, this kid competes, doesn’t he, and he plays well’. I’ve got a feeling he’ll keep getting spoken about this year, because I’m told he missed out on the draft only by a bee’s you know what. He’s got great attributes as a midfielder.’’

Lucas Impey: “Luke Damon Hollow, he just missed out on the draft last year but he played some footy with us. He’s a ruck/key forward and he’s got himself in good shape.’’

Jovan Petric: “Jovan’s a big key forward and played for us last year as a first-year VFL player. He’s got fitter, stronger and bigger, and we expect him to take a few strides forward this year playing alongside Brodie McLaughlin and Lachie Gollant.’’