Avery Thomas Draft Profile

Tasmania DevilsDefender

#28

Avery Thomas

height: 185cm

weight:

D.O.B: 20-09-2007

Leagues: AFL U18 Championships, Coates Talent League Boys

Snapshot
Analysis
Summary

SNAPSHOT: “A tough and versatile lockdown defender with powerful athletic traits and aerial ability.” – Michael Alvaro

Avery Thomas firms as Tasmania’s best draft hope this year having progressed rapidly throughout his top-age campaign. A strong and explosive athlete, he debuted in the now defunct Tasmanian State League as a 15-year-old back in 2023, but only turned out once at Under 16 level for the Devils. After five bottom-age games in the Coates Talent League last year, Thomas put aside a promising athletics career to fully focus on football.

It proved to be a shrewd call for Thomas to chase his dream of making it to the AFL. A pair of performances stick out in particular when assessing his year – first shutting down the highly touted Max King, and then putting on a marking clinic against Dandenong Stingrays. Both outings went a long way to not only exhibiting Thomas’ upside, but also earning him a call-up to the Allies squad after missing out on game one.

The Launceston product went on to run out the National Championships and returned to the Tassie Devils lineup. Having suffered setbacks throughout the season in the form of concussion and a broken nose, Thomas’ season ended with a massive hit against the Oakleigh Chargers in Round 18 – a game he started in the midfield. It was one of his nine appearances at the level, named in Tasmania’s bests six times.

Thomas’ exploits saw him take out the ‘Devil of the Year’ award for his professionalism and work ethic, evidenced by his rate of improvement. He was the only Tasmanian invited to the National Draft Combine and put on a clinic, achieving top-10 results in four of the five tests. That included a second-place finish in the standing vertical jump (75cm) – behind only King. He did so despite battling illness in the lead-up to the event.

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STRENGTHS:

+ Aerial ability
+ Defensive effort
+ Intercepting
+ Power
+ Speed
+ Strength

IMPROVEMENTS:

- Decision making
- Endurance

You'd be hard pressed to find a more desperate defender than Thomas in this year's draft crop. He's a willing competitor who throws himself into every contest, leaning on his athletic attributes to impact both in the air and at ground level. That's an area the Tasmanian prides himself on, stating he will "crash a pack all day" and "defend like [his] life depends on it" when outlining what he can offer to an AFL club.

Thomas' competitive nature makes him an effective lockdown defender. He's so brave aerially and that lends to a strong intercept game, whether coming across to spoil or taking a relieving mark. His athletic traits are useful in both facets; his spring-heeled leap sees him compete above his 185cm standing, while his speed allows him to close in on each contest. Thomas' power and strength are evident in one-on-one situations too, where he is hardly beaten.

Essentially, what that means is Thomas can play on a variety of forwards - tall and small. His explosiveness was exhibited at the National Draft Combine, where he placed second in the standing vertical jump (75cm), equal-10th in the running vertical jump (84cm), fourth in the 20m sprint (2.898 seconds), and fifth in the agility test (7.887 seconds). With such raw power, he has an incredible athletic base to work with, and it is central to his game.

That upside and versatility make Thomas a highly developable prospect, although he still has plenty of room for improvement. He is looking to refine some of his decision making and can continue to work on his ball use coming out of defence. While not a high-production type, averaging around 10 disposals per game, Thomas can also build his running tank to help boost his production and impact the game in other ways. Perhaps it would allow him to use his athleticism in an attacking sense - he has been known to swing forward and even had a short midfield burst with Tasmania to explore that.

DRAFT RANGE: 25-40

SUMMARY:

Thomas rocketed into top 30 contention after building into the Allies setup, and remains firmly in the thoughts of recruiters after starring at the draft combine. Having only fully launched into football over an athletics career heading into this year, his development has been strong and he’ll only continue to live up to his upside. Thomas’ athletic attributes are as good as they come, so if he can refine his improvement areas there is a highly promising base to work with. Clubs will also value his outward loyalty, having expressed a desire to get out of his home state and repay the faith to whichever club he ends up at – despite Tasmania’s incumbent AFL team. That makes him a relatively safe pick, likely among the second round.

AFL U18 Championships

Season	Team	K	HB	D	M	CP	UP	T	HO	CLR	I50	R50	GL	GM	K	H	D	M	HO	T	G	DC
2025	Allies	19	11	30	12	6	24	7	0	0	1	11	0	3	6.3	3.7	10.0	4.0	0.0	2.3	0.0	43
Total	-	19	11	30	12	6	24	7	0	0	1	11	0	3	6.3	3.7	10.0	4.0	0.0	2.3	0.0	43

Coates Talent League Boys

Season	Team	K	HB	D	M	CP	UP	T	CLR	I50	R50	GL	GM	K	H	D	M	T	G	DC
2024	Tasmania Devils	19	13	32	8	0	0	9	0	9	4	1	5	3.8	2.6	6.4	1.6	1.8	0.2	27
2025	Tasmania Devils	68	19	87	33	35	51	12	3	11	24	1	9	7.6	2.1	9.7	3.7	1.3	0.1	45
Total	-	87	32	119	41	35	51	21	3	20	28	2	14	6.2	2.3	8.5	2.9	1.5	0.1	72