Another bloody draft ranking? Yes. But this one comes from watching full games and player-involvement vision, testing what actually makes a junior prospect likely to succeed at AFL level. This is my final Top 30 for the 2026 AFL National Draft, not a phantom draft, and not an attempt to predict the order in which clubs will call names. With Essendon holding Pick 1 and further selections expected later in the draft, there is an obvious Bombers lens to parts of this discussion

Day 6 of the Countdown to Round 1, 2026 focuses on Essendon Guernsey Number 6 , a jumper deeply tied to Premiership success and some of the club’s most famous surnames. The first Essendon player to wear number 6 was Ernie Cameron , who wore it during the 1911 finals series , when numbered jumpers were first introduced. Cameron played 22 games across 1911 and 1912 , including Essendon’s 1911 Premiership . The number gained real prominence in the 1920s through Tom Fitzmaurice