Inside the brains trust: Meet the team building your club's future

YOU DON’T see them, but they work every weekend in winter, spending far more time in Ballarat, at Brighton Grammar and RSEA Park sitting in camping chairs than in the stands at Marvel Stadium, Adelaide Oval or the MCG.

They don't get praised inside the Monday morning review or on the Monday night shows, but they pick the players that do, following them around Australia for years before Andrew Dillon reads their names out.

List managers are scrutinised every trade period and after every Draft, but recruiting teams are made up of far more than just them.

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From national recruiting managers to pro scouts to data analysts. Every club's recruiting and list management departments are slightly different. So, who are the men and women who pick the players at your club?

Ahead of the 2025 Telstra AFL Draft, AFL.com.au has tracked the path of every full-time recruiter (and some others) from all 18 AFL clubs, plus the (familiar) names steering the 19th license in Tasmania.

National recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie has been picking players for the Crows since the start of 2007, following a transition from the police force to coaching the Tassie Mariners before starting a life in scouting. Ogilvie replaced the late Matt Rendell to run recruiting at the Crows in 2012. Justin Reid was appointed Adelaide list manager two years later after 14 years working as a player agent for Elite Sports Properties under Craig Kelly, who has since become CEO of Collingwood. Reid is the son of longtime Adelaide football manager John Reid and has steered the rebuild at West Lakes during Matthew Nicks' time at the Crows. Experienced recruiter Richard Taylor made the move from Richmond in 2022. Shane Edwards transitioned out of playing at Richmond that year to join the Crows as a recruiter and indigenous player development manager. Dean Dagan joined in 2020 as data scientist and insights lead, following a stint at Points Bet as a quantitative analyst. Binuk Kodituwakku remains involved at Adelaide as a player acquisition consultant from afar after moving to America to be chief football strategy officer at Duke University. Former Hawk Alex Woodward has joined the Crows in a part-time capacity as a pro scout.

Brisbane's back-to-back premierships have been constructed by a settled recruiting team. Dom Ambrogio joined the Lions as list manager at the start of 2017 after more than 15 years working under veteran scout Scott Clayton, first at the Western Bulldogs then at Gold Coast from 2008 to build the inaugural list at the Suns. National Recruiting Manager Steve Conole has been at the Lions since 2011 and has overseen the stunning rise from the bottom to the top. Conole joined Brisbane after eight years as the regional manager at the Oakleigh Chargers in the then-TAC Cup and has stamped himself as one of the best in the business. Shane Rogers was appointed pro scout in 2015 after leaving Carlton as recruiting manager months earlier and currently focuses on mature-age talent at the Lions. Former Fitzroy star Leon Harris is also a full-time recruiter at Brisbane, returning to the Lions at the same time as Ambrogio after leading the Vic Country program for 10 years.

Nick Austin has run the list management team at Princes Park since taking over from Stephen Silvagni as list manager in 2020. Carlton poached him from the Western Bulldogs, where he was a highly rated recruiting manager under Sam Power, following six years in the recruiting team at Richmond and three years as opposition analyst at Port Adelaide, after initially starting at the Whitten Oval. Austin is the son of Carlton great and former Fitzroy coach Rod, who worked for the AFL for more than 20 years as football administration manager. National recruiting manager Michael Agresta has been at the Blues since 2018, following a seven-year stint in the same role at Sydney. Former North Melbourne list manager and long-time Champion Data analyst Glenn Luff returned to recruiting last year as a part-timer with Carlton before being added full-time in 2025 as recruiting operations coordinator. Brent Manson is list strategy manager at Carlton after more than a decade in performance and analytics roles. Jake Fuller is the south-west recruiting coordinator for the Blues.

Collingwood's recruiting team has undergone a renovation over the past 18 months. Brisbane great and former coach Justin Leppitsch joined his former premiership teammate Craig McRae at the Magpies in 2022 as head of strategy, but has transitioned into list management since the departure of Graham Wright. Former Collingwood fan favourite Shane O'Bree returned to the club he played 227 games for in March as the Pies’ national recruitment manager. O'Bree arrived from Geelong, where he spent more than a decade working as an assistant coach, VFL coach and in pro scouting and recruiting since 2022. Shannon Collins is recruiting and list administration manager after first starting at Collingwood as a graphic designer in 2015. Two years later, Collins moved into football operations before a move into recruiting two years ago. Richard Little joined the club this time last year as pro scout and recruiting strategic analyst from the Victorian Institute of Sport, following six years at Essendon as an analyst.

Matt Rosa joined Essendon ahead of the 2023 Draft as talent and operations manager before being promoted 12 months later to GM of list and recruiting. After playing 207 games for West Coast and Gold Coast, Rosa spent a couple of years as a development coach at the Eagles before spending three years as GM of Peel Thunder in the WAFL. Rob Forster-Knight returned to the club he played 31 games for at the turn of the century as a recruiter in 2011 before being promoted to national recruiting manager in 2018. Darren Farrugia works full-time in recruiting and is also the VFL list manager, joining the bombers in 2021 after more than a decade in the football department at Melbourne. Veteran scout Rohan O'Brien spent 33 years at West Coast before stepping down at the end of 2023. He joined Essendon in 2024, helping mentor Rosa, and now focuses on Western Australia and South Australia. Experienced recruiter Neil Ross joined the Bombers this year as a pro scout covering the state leagues after long stints at Fremantle, West Coast and Collingwood.

David Walls has been recruiting players for Fremantle since 2008, first as a part-timer before progressing to head of recruiting and player personnel manager in 2020. Walls started scouting at Brisbane in 1999 under recruiting guru Kinnear Beatson after spending two years on Carlton's list and is the son of the late Hall of Fame member Robert Walls. National recruiting manager David McMullin also started at the Dockers in 2008 and works alongside his cousin, Ed McMullin, who is a state recruiting manager for Fremantle. Liam Woodland joined the Dockers in early 2024 after 12 years as a scout at Geelong under Stephen Wells' watch. Cam Allen is the Dockers' Western Australia recruiting manager and the only member of the recruiting department based in Perth. Nick Connors has been recruiting and list analyst since 2020 and will head across to WA in the new year to be based at Fremantle's headquarters to work closer with the football department.

Andrew Mackie transitioned into the recruiting department at Kardinia Park when he retired at the end of 2017 after winning three premierships across 280 games for the Cats. The South Australian was elevated to list manager in 2021 when recruiting guru Stephen Wells stepped back from that responsibility. Wells has remained involved full-time at a club he has been picking players at since 1984, building the era under Mark Thompson and then Chris Scott. After the 2023 season, Geelong elevated Mackie to GM of football following the departure of Simon Lloyd. Simon Murphy has become a central figure in Geelong's list management team since being poached form the AFL after working under player movement boss Ken Wood in 2018. Murphy is now head of list and recruiting strategy. Premiership defender Tom Lonergan has just returned to the club he played 209 games for after spending the past couple of years at Carlton in development. Lonergan has been appointed assistant recruiting manager after also spending time as the talent manager at Calder Cannons and Geelong Falcons since retiring. Ross Hill joined Geelong this year as recruiting officer after a stint working in Brisbane's academy and the Murray Bushrangers. Former Cat Cory Gregson does some part-time scouting for the club in Adelaide.

Craig Cameron has run the recruiting team at Gold Coast since joining the Suns at the end of 2017, after being poached from Greater Western Sydney after 18 months in the role. This off-season, Cameron has been promoted to GM of football to fill the void left by Wayne Campbell. But like Jason McCartney, Sam Power and Andrew Mackie, Cameron will oversee the list. Cameron is a football lifer, dating back to 1997 when he was appointed Melbourne's recruiting manager before moving to Richmond 11 years later as GM. Now Cameron is back in that role, but will remain involved in list management. Kall Burns is the longest-serving staff member at Gold Coast and has been promoted to list manager after 15 years at the club. Burns started as a volunteer, initially moving from Melbourne to Queensland and progressing from sports science to GPS analyst to the recruitment department under Scott Clayton, before being promoted to national recruiting manager at the start of 2018. Kade Nanscawen has been a recruiter officer over the past eight years, while Tom Waldron is also a full-time recruiter for the Suns.

Jason McCartney is one of a handful of GMs across the competition that also oversee list management. After playing a key role in the Western Bulldogs' list build ahead of the drought-breaking premiership in 2016, McCartney moved to Greater Western Sydney as list manager in 2017 before becoming GM of football operations two years later. Adrian Caruso has been recruiting for the Giants since 2013, progressing to national recruiting manager and more recently promoted to head of talent after previously working for Champion Data and the Western Bulldogs as an analyst. Emma Quayle became the first female recruiter in the AFL when she left an award-winning career as a football journalist to join the Giants at the start of 2017. Quayle covered the draft closely across more than 15 years reporting for The Age in Melbourne, writing must-read human-interest features and books that captured the attention of clubs long before she joined the Giants. Tom Nixon is the SA and WA recruiting officer at the Giants, rounding out a lean team that is usually involved prolifically every November, but not this year.

National recruiting and list manager Mark McKenzie started recruiting for Hawthorn in 2012 when he was still playing in the SANFL for Woodville-West Torrens, where he won five best and fairests and two premierships around stints on the rookie list at Carlton and Port Adelaide. After starting as special projects manager that involved training with Ireland, New Zealand and New South Wales recruits during the pre-season, McKenzie was promoted to national recruiting manager in 2018 and stepped up to list when Graham Wright departed the club for Collingwood. After 17 years at North Melbourne, Mark Finnigan joined Hawthorn as player acquisition manager in 2022 after spending his final six years at the Kangaroos as national recruiting manager. Finnigan is also involved in contracting and trade targets. Four-time premiership great Jarryd Roughead returned to Hawthorn at the start of last year as player acquisition manager focusing on trade and free agency. Roughead retired at the end of 2019 after 283 games in the brown and gold, then spent four years at St Kilda in coaching, leadership and then recruiting and list management. This year, Roughead also focused on Western Australia. Mitch Cashion is a recruiter and academy manager and has worked in Hawthorn's list management team since 2015.

Melbourne has one of the longest serving recruiting teams in the game, with Tim Lamb joining the club in 2012, Jason Taylor at the start of 2013 and Kelly O'Donnell's connection to the Demons stretching decades. Lamb was first appointed national recruiting officer after making a major career pivot following 22 years as a senior officer at Victoria Police. Stints coaching St Bede's Mentone in the VAFA, Sandringham Dragons and Vic Metro led him to a life in scouting. Lamb was promoted to list manager in 2019 and along with Taylor, O'Donnell and others helped construct the drought-breaking premiership team in 2021. Taylor first started part-time at St Kilda under legendary recruiter John Beveridge in 2006 while running an air conditioning business. Then he joined Collingwood full-time under Derek Hine and is rated as one of the best in the caper. Noel 'Kelly' O'Donnell played 80 games for Melbourne between 1979 and 1984, then returned as a development coach in 2009 before joining the recruiting team in 2012, where he remains as a pro scout and also the past players liaison. Matt Lannan has been recruiting at Melbourne since 2021. Todd Patterson was involved in Melbourne's AFL and AFLW recruiting before being appointed Tasmania's inaugural list manager in May.

Club champion Brady Rawlings returned to Arden Street in late 2019 as GM, following six years at West Coast, first as an assistant coach before becoming list manager at the Eagles. The 44-year-old won three Syd Barker Medals across 245 games for the Kangaroos. North Melbourne's recruiting team has been renovated over recent years, with former Tiger Will Thursfield appointed national recruiting manager at the start of 2023. After his playing career ended in 2011, Thursfield spent time in player management for Mac's Sports Promotions with veteran agent Anthony McConville, before returning to Punt Road as a pro scout and recruiter in 2018. Triple premiership Hawthorn great Liam Shiels has transitioned into talent ID as national talent scout since retiring at the end of 2024, after squeezing two more years out of his decorated career at North Melbourne. Brett Sclanders is the Kangaroos' South Australian talent scout, while Corry Bewick is based in Perth and the other full-time recruiter for North.

Port Adelaide has one of the most experienced recruiting teams in the AFL with list manager Jason Cripps and national recruiting manager Geoff Parker both life members of the Power. Cripps has been list manager since 2011 after transitioning from assistant coach under Mark Williams, following a 60-game career for St Kilda. Parker started recruiting at Port Adelaide in 2007, following a first class cricket career in Victoria and South Australia plus three games for Essendon in the 80s under legendary coach Kevin Sheedy. Parker started recruiting for Melbourne in the late 1990s and worked under Craig Cameron, alongside Matt Clarke. Anthony Parkin is assistant national recruiting manager and has been working for Port Adelaide since the start of 2014. The son of legendary player and coach David, Parkin became a recruiter following eight years as the Eastern Ranges' talent manager. New talent scout Brett Anderson landed at the Power in 2018 following seven years as a journalist for Inside Football/SEN, after stints at St Kilda and Melbourne in footy tech early this century. Port Adelaide champion Robbie Gray joined this department in late 2022, two months after his brilliant 16-year career ended and is based in Melbourne with the rest of the team. Experienced football administrator Shane Grimm looks after SA and WA along with his W commitments at the Power.

Blair Hartley arrived at Punt Road at the end of 2009 and his fingerprints were all over the drought breaking premiership in 2017 and the three flags under Damien Hardwick. After starting as list analyst, Hartley became list manager and has was promoted to head of the football department with Tim Livingstone in 2019. Hartley started his AFL journey at Essendon before spending five years at Port Adelaide, where he was poached by the Tigers when working as the Power's national recruiting manager. Late last year, Richmond – and the wider recruiting industry – was rocked when Chris Toce passed away from a quick and private battle with cancer months after being appointed national recruiting manager at the Tigers. Rhy Gieschen has since stepped up into the role, two years after joining the club as Victorian recruiting manager, following stints at the Northern Knights, Melbourne Grammar and the AFL. Oliver Grant was promoted to Victorian recruiting manager earlier this year after previously working as the VFL operations manager and recruiting officer. Sam Cousens is based in Perth as Richmond's Western Australia and South Australia recruiting boss and has scouted players for the Tigers on a part-time or full-time basis for 15 years. Dom La Fontaine has also joined the list management team over the past two years as head of football finance and strategy. Veteran scout Francis Jackson is still involved at the Tigers working in the futures space.

Stephen Silvagni returned to St Kilda at the start of 2023 as list manager, following a previous stint as an assistant coach under Ross Lyon. The Carlton legend had been the Blues' list boss until 2019, following a five-year stint at Greater Western Sydney, where he worked alongside Graeme Allan at the Giants. 'Gubby' has been involved in football administration since the late 80s after playing 141 games for Fitzroy and Collingwood. He was football manager at the Magpies when they broke a premiership drought in 1990, then moved to Brisbane to work under Leigh Matthews to run football operations during the famous three-peat earlier this century. Allan has been involved with the Saints since 2018 and is now head of talent and acquisition. Simon Dalrymple joined St Kilda at the start of last year as talent identification and player movement manager, following six years as Sydney's recruiting manager. Before that Dalrymple helped construct the Western Bulldogs' premiership list in 2016 after a stint as Northern Knights talent manager. Michael Jordan moved from Carlton to St Kilda last year as recruiting officer, while Billy Lambert works full-time for the Saints as a pro scout.

Chris Keane has transitioned to head of list strategy at Sydney over the past 18 months, taking over from veteran scout Kinnear Beatson. Keane first joined the Swans in 2018 as a senior data analyst, following four seasons at Greater Western Sydney as a performance analyst then opposition analyst. Beatson will transition out of the list management team this December but will remain at the Swans in a part-time role with their academy, after starting at the Swans as player acquisition manager in 2006 following more than a decade as a recruiter at Brisbane. Sydney will hire a replacement for Beatson over the summer months and currently only have three full-time recruiters. John Giramondo joined the recruiting team at the start of 2024 and was elevated to national recruiting manager at the start of this year. Before he joined the Swans, Giramondo spent seven years working as a recruiting officer for Greater Western Sydney, following a stint as a talent scout with Brisbane. Ross Monaghan joined the Swans in 2017 and is the recruiting coordinator who covers off South Australia and Western Australia, as well as focusing on the futures market.

The Western Bulldogs have reshaped the football department at the Whitten Oval over the past two years, elevating list boss Sam Power to GM of football, where he still remains heavily involved in contracts and the list management team, following the departure of Dom Milesi last summer. Michael Regan joined the club as player acquisition and strategy manager in March after more than a decade in Port Adelaide's recruiting team, most recently as innovation performance and list analytics manager. A teacher by trade, Regan spent six years based in the United States at Catapult. Luke Williams also joined the recruiting team at the kennel in 2025, leaving his post as Western Jets talent lead to return to the AFL following stints with Geelong, Richmond and Carlton. Jamie Downs is the other full-timer at the club, working across the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. The Dogs will add another full-time recruiter in 2026. Sam McIntosh is also involved in the team as list and recruitment analyst at Victoria University.

Matt Clarke landed his first gig as a list manager at the start of 2024, replacing longstanding West Coast list boss Rohan O'Brien, after helping construct the list that won three premierships under Damien Hardwick at Richmond. Before he was elevated to national recruiting manager in 2016, Clarke joined the Tigers as a recruiter in 2009, after starting with Melbourne in 1997 as a scout based out of Adelaide. Craig Cameron was Clarke's first boss, working alongside Geoff Parker at the Demons. Duane Massey has been recruiting for West Coast since the start of 2012 and is based out of Adelaide, following a playing career for North Adelaide and stint as Sturt football manager in the SANFL. Adam Shepard joined the Eagles in January as draft strategy and player movement manager, moving from Collingwood where he had been national talent ID manager. Shepard spent 13 years at the Magpies working under Derek Hine before the Eagles swooped amid changes at Collingwood. Damon Poole joined at the same time as data recruiting analyst, following four years at Carlton in recruiting and data analysis. Before that, Poole worked as an analyst at Champion Data. National recruiting scout Todd Nisbett is based out of Perth and has been picking players for the Eagles for more than a decade, growing up at a club where his dad Trevor spent 35 years at, first as football manager in 1989 and then CEO from 1999.

And…. don’t forget about TASMANIA

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