He’s the self-confessed “pest” with dreams of celebrating freakish goals in front of a packed MCG.
And, for good reason, he’s become one of the most in-demand players near the top-end of this year’s AFL draft.
Lachy Dovaston, the best small forward in the 2025 draft, is all but certain to be taken on the first night of the draft, with the Eastern Ranges star receiving an invite to Wednesday night’s first round.
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It’s expected the 177cm Eastern Ranges star won’t have to wait too long into the night for his name to be called out.
Essendon, which hosted Dovaston and Ranges teammates Sullivan Robey and Xavier Taylor at a training session last week, is strongly considering taking him with one of its first three picks. There’s a world in which Dovaston and Taylor, who are “best mates”, both end up at Essendon.
If the Bombers overlook Dovaston at Pick 9 – the selection Essendon will receive from Carlton in an early live trade on draft night – it’s expected one of Hawthorn (Pick 10) or North Melbourne (Pick 11) will pounce. The prospect of Dovaston and Nick Watson being in the same Hawthorn forward line is tantalising, while the Roos really need another small goalkicker to support Paul Curtis — and Dovaston could be their man.
Should he slip past those clubs, West Coast (Pick 13) and Adelaide (Pick 16) have also been strongly linked.
The Kangaroos, like the Bombers, will secure a top-11 pick via a trade with the Blues, who also like Dovaston but have instead prioritised more draft points to match bids on Harry Dean and Jack Ison. Those Carlton moves have led to a significant interest surge from clubs at that point in the draft in Dovaston, who describes himself as “a classic small forward”.
“I’d like to say a bit of swagger, a bit of a pest – stuff like that,” he told foxfooty.com.au with a smile while overlooking the MCG field. “And the goalkicking and defensive pressure and being clean.”
Dovaston just knows where the goals are, kicking 38 majors in the Ranges’ premiership campaign — to earn Coates Talent League team of the year honours — and nine goals from four national carnival games for Vic Metro to be named All-Australian.
He was then one of the best all-round performers at the draft combine. The highlight was his agility test result of 7.794 seconds – the fastest time of the 2025 national combine and the fourth-fastest ever recorded — while he also recorded top-five finishes in both the running vertical jump (89cm) and standing vertical jump (74cm).
Add a flowing mullet to his natural talent and athleticism and you’ve got a player who’d “definitely thrive off the big crowds and the big stage”.
“When I look out here, I just imagine like 100,000 people and just kicking a goal and doing a celebration to the crowd – that’s the main thing,” he said.
“It’s pretty surreal. It’s pretty awesome to think that in the next few years, I could be playing out here on the ‘G.”
One of the doubts around Dovaston at the start of the season was how consistent he could be game-to-game.
But he answered that question with an outstanding season. At all levels.
“I had a really consistent year, which I’m also happy with. Then to be able to make All-Australian and Metro was a big honour and win it all at Eastern and then also get a VFL debut – they were all goals (I had) going into the year and I ticked them all off,” he said.
For Dovaston, his bottom-age season (2024) was “a big learning year”.
Ranges coach Lauren ‘LJ’ Morecroft, who also coached Dovaston at Vic Metro this year, played Dovaston as a defender.
The Blackburn product initially struggled to see the big picture behind the move before it eventually clicked.
“Playing defence was LJ’s idea. At the time, I was like: ‘What the hell?’ But it was unreal and she’s been unreal for me and probably helped me the most out of any coach. We have such a good connection,” he said.
“I’m really close with ‘LJ’. She’s such an honest person and she’ll tell you when you’re going well and when you’re not going well.
“I knew pretty early from the end of last year going into the pre-season that I was going to play the small forward and high half-forward role … But the main thing I wanted to focus on was defensive pressure. I sort of knew I had the offensive traits, but the defensive pressure is probably more important than the goals. I think I turned that into a strength, but it’s still something I can get better at every game. The better that is, the better everything else is.”
While Morecroft has had a profound impact on his journey, Dovaston has also taken inspiration from the highs and lows of his cousin: Ex-Magpie Nathan Murphy.
Taken by Collingwood with Pick 39 in the 2017 draft, Murphy overcame a series of injuries early in his career before becoming an integral part of the Magpies’ back six alongside Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe.
Murphy was part of Collingwood’s premiership triumph over Brisbane in 2023. But his 57th match would also be his last in the AFL, with the key defender medically retiring seven months later due to an ongoing battle with concussion.
“I’ve spoken to him a bit over the last few years,” Dovaston said of Murphy. “Seeing him get drafted and play AFL, that’s when I realised ‘this is a goal I want to do’ and hopefully I’d be good enough to do it.
“Obviously getting medically retired has been tough on him. He’s living down at Torquay and still working at Collingwood and had a new little daughter recently, but he’s given me some good advice.”
Murphy’s concussion history has also prompted Dovaston to take an interest in head trauma.
“At school we do a lot (assignments) and I’m pretty much always doing something about concussion in footy,” he said.
“It’s a bit of an easy one, I guess. It’s just so huge and you see that they’re trying to stamp it out with suspending people straight away, which I think is good if you want to get it out of the game. It’s not good to be medically retired like he (Murphy) is, but it’s for the best in a way.
“Through school and stuff, I’ve done some tasks. Probably not enough, but once you get drafted, no doubt you’ll understand it even more.”
Undoubtedly a future crowd favourite at the top level, Dovaston declared he is “so ready” for full-time professional AFL footballer life.
“I think that’s something I pride myself on. I’m always ready and seem to excel with the next step I go to, whether that was Metro or VFL this year,” he said.
“I just can’t wait to hopefully get called out on one of the draft nights and then work as hard as I can and get into it.”
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