ANOTHER 34 players landed on AFL lists as night two marked the completion of the 2023 National AFL Draft. Four clubs – Brisbane, Fremantle, Richmond, and Port Adelaide – entered the intake at Marvel Stadium across a night littered with trades and surprise landing spots.

>> RECAP: 2023 AFL Draft Night One
>> EACH PICK: Night One | Night Two

Three talls were snapped up as night two got underway, with West Coast holding onto the opening pick of round two. The Eagles used it to select another Reid, this time in the form of Gippsland Power product Archer. The brother of Essendon’s Zach is a nimble key forward who can also roll through the ruck.

It was then Brisbane’s turn to make its first selection of the draft, with Western Jets spearhead Logan Morris. Despite boasting one of the league’s most potent forward lines, talls were targeted for that area of the ground and the Lions would soon after pick Luke Lloyd (42).

With a change in plans after snapping up raw and athletic tall utility Zane Zakostelsky with pick 51, Brisbane opted to select a fourth player when Reece Torrent was left available. It was the very last pick of the draft, made as passes were flying in and the telecast presenters were wrapping things up.

The third tall taken in as many picks to start the second round was West Australian ruck Mitch Edwards, snapped up by Geelong. In serious need of ruck depth, the Cats snared one who was highly regarded over the last two years and looms as a long-term development option.

Edwards was also tied to Fremantle and ended up being one of three Next Generation Academy products taken by other clubs before the all important pick 40 mark. Defenders Tew Jiath (Collingwood, pick 37) and Luamon Lual (Essendon, pick 39) did not get to Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs respectively.

Selecting Edwards meant Geelong missed out on arguably the best local talent this year in Falcon Angus Hastie, who ended up at St Kilda. The Cats pulled the trigger on arguably the best state-leaguer though, giving Shaun Mannagh his chance as a readymade midfielder-forward out of Werribee in the VFL.

Among a six-man National Draft intake, Geelong did typical Geelong things in shocking the room with a couple of late surprises. After just about stealing George Stevens at pick 58, the Cats called out Oliver Wiltshire‘s name three selections later, before nabbing Lawson Humphries at pick 63.

Wiltshire, a former Geelong Falcon, made great strides this year playing local footy with Barwon Heads. He, and fellow midfielder Humphries are at the heights of Geelong’s obscure picks. Humphries won a WAFL Reserves flag with Swan Districts this year after being twice overlooked at the draft.

There were back-to-back Dandenong Stingrays picked as Billy Wilson landed at Carlton and Fremantle called out Cooper Simpson. The latter plied his trade as a defender for the most part this year, but Carlton was further enamoured by his speed and skills through midfield, so he’ll train with the Blues’ on-ball group.

The Dockers facilitated their first selection via a trade with Richmond, who traded down the order twice and still managed to group a handy South Australian haul. Powerful midfielder Kane McAuliffe was first to go at pick 40, before the Tigers opted to take a punt on key forward Liam Fawcett.

Richmond is now relatively stacked with late future picks, while Port Adelaide was handing them out in order to get on the board. The Power traded in for picks 48 and 52, landing two exciting pressure forwards in Tom Anastasopoulos and Lachlan Charleson, both of whom can also hit the scoreboard.

Two more club-tied talents reached their destinations. Hawthorn brought in father-son nominee Calsher Dear at pick 56, while GWS nabbed academy product Harvey Thomas just three picks later. A quirk in academy eligibility rules also meant Sydney was free to swoop on Territorian Patrick Snell, who developed through the Lions Academy.

Among the surprise sliders of the night were defenders Archie Roberts and Arie Schoenmaker. The former landed at Essendon at the bargain price of pick 54, and the latter was relieved to have St Kilda take him at pick 62, just as things were looking just about done.

Along with Stevens, other esteemed juniors like Will Lorenz (Port Adelaide, pick 57) and Jack Delean (Fremantle, pick 60) found homes, while All Australian duo Clay Hall (West Coast, pick 38) and Ollie Murphy (Fremantle, pick 41) will hope to repay the faith to their West Australian clubs.

>> DOWNLOAD: 2023 AFL Draft Guide