‘Skyrocketed’: Inside unlikely rise of biggest AFL draft bolter in 10 years… who’s met with 18 clubs

Sullivan Robey is the biggest bolter in an AFL draft since Clayton Oliver.

In fact, the Rowville Rampager’s surge this season has been more dramatic and stunning than Oliver’s rise back in 2015.

While not featuring for Vic Country at the Under 18 national championships 10 years ago, Oliver was at least a mainstay of the Murray Bushrangers team for the whole season. A late surge led to a Morrish Medal and, ultimately, AFL selection by Melbourne with Pick 4 in the national draft.

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Robey, conversely, has come from further back.

No AFL club had spoken to him prior to July this year. Three months later, all 18 had contacted him.

“To think that I’ve come this far since the start of the year is pretty awesome,” he tells foxfooty.com.au.

“There’s a lot to be proud of over the past 12 months.”

‘NOT MUCH TIME OFF’: THE SUMMER GRIND

Robey was overlooked by the Dandenong Stingrays in his 16th year and wasn’t even on a Coates Talent League list at the start of his draft year.

And it’s not as if he wasn’t putting in the effort.

Robey’s final game of 2024 was an Under 19s game for Rowville against Noble Park. He reckons he then had one week off before getting “stuck into pre-season and working on myself”.

From early September 2024 to late March 2025, Robey was in the gym six days a week. He also followed and completed a six-day-a-week running program that he’d designed alongside older brother Beck. Four nights a week, he hit up Holm Park Reserve in Beaconsfield “with a dozen balls and a rebound net”.

“There wasn’t much time off,” Robey says. “I was pretty motivated and keen to get as far as I could.”

“I had heaps of room for improvement, but I literally wanted to do everything I could – aerobic, sprinting, footy, skills, whatever it was. I think that there was very little that I wasn’t doing in that pre-season, to be honest.

“I just wanted to make it. I didn’t want to come into the next season and be a fringe player and be the 20th best kid on the squad. I wanted to make it so there was no doubt possible I’d come into a squad and I’d be in the top three.”

Which made the next setback hard to take.

Robey, who’d previously attempted to get a transfer from the Stingrays region to the Eastern Ranges but failed, finally got a trial with the Ranges a week before Round 1 of the Coates Talent League season.

He missed the squad. He just couldn’t squeeze out some of the 19-year-olds already playing a similar role.

“It was pretty damaging to know that I’d put in that big body of work and, just like that, it’s all kind of gone to waste,” Robey says.

“But I knew all that hard work hadn’t gone out the window just because of one week.”

PREMIER DIVISION TO PREMIERS

Robey vowed to “apply myself back at Rowville”, confident his “hard work would show one way another”.

After starting the season in the Under 19s, Robey was promoted to the senior side. The Hawks, too, play in the Premier Division of the Eastern Football Netball League, so it was a high standard of opposition.

Working under Rowville premiership coach Ben Wise and assistant James Gwilt – an ex-Saint and Bomber who played 152 AFL games – Robey built serious momentum playing as a forward, leading to consecutive three-goal hauls against Doncaster East and Mitcham.

“That gave me a lot of confidence to know that I wasn’t just a one-hit wonder,” Robey said. “It was a few good games that I’d chained together playing that forward role.

“Playing those handful of games with the bigger bodies – some ex-AFL and ex-VFL boys – and even playing alongside a few of VFL boys, it gave me a lot of confidence.”

By June, Robey was back on the radar of the Eastern Ranges, who had vacant squad spots emerge.

Ranges goalsneak Lachy Dovaston sensed his team was about to get a significant mid-season boost.

“He came in halfway through the year and that first training, he was just taking contested grabs and was such a big unit,” Dovaston tells foxfooty.com.au.

“Straight away me and ‘Xav’ Taylor said ‘he’ll be playing in a week or two’.”

And he did. And he

And all that hard work, all that persistence and patience, indeed paid off.

Robey kicked 6.1 and averaged 16 disposals from his first three Coates Talent League games to earn, initially, a state combine invite. Then came an explosive, jaw-dropping late-season burst, capped off by four goals from 13 disposals and five marks against the Dragons in the Ranges’ premiership triumph over the Sandringham Dragons.

Robey had, indeed, rampaged his way up draft boards.

“I did feel like I was in a little bit of a rush coming in mid-year and I wanted to speed things up and get my manager to push me out there and give me the most opportunities I could,” he says.

“But now that I look back at it, it wasn’t much of a rush. I played a handful of games and luckily Eastern went to the grand final. It’s all kind of worked out.

“It’s been pretty exciting to know that I’ve come into a group that’s a really solid team that did a lot of winning throughout the year, so I’m thrilled to be a part of that journey all those boys had. For them to bring me on mid-year – I mean they’ve had pre-seasons and years together in the past through the program – and treat me like I’ve been there for the past couple of years is pretty special.”

‘PRETTY ROUGH’: BLUNT TAKE ON BREAKOUT MATCH

The standout Robey game came against the Western Jets in a wild Wildcard Round game: Three goals from 40 disposals, nine marks and seven inside 50s. From the outside, you’d think it was a statement performance to those who’d doubted him.

For Robey, however, it was anything but.

“To be honest, no it wasn’t (completely satisfying),” he bluntly says.

“On the stats sheet it looks pretty, but now that I look back at it and look at the footage – and I’ve spoken to a few clubs and a few people around footy – I don’t think it’s a pretty game to watch back over, in terms of disposal (efficiency) and how I played … It was pretty rough through that game, probably not one of my best displays of disposal.”

When he initially presented at the Stingrays, Robey was 175cm. Now he’s a 192cm player who Dovaston describes as a “bull”.

“He’s just a big body. He throws his weight around at the contest,” he says of Robey.

“And his skills, he’s an unreal kick and his ability to finish with goals is awesome.”

Robey has all the attributes required to be a strong AFL player. He’s super competitive with an infectious willingness to hunt the ball. He spreads well from congestion and, most games, he’s a good kick. He’s powerful, energetic and confident.

“I’m that high half-forward who links with the mids and the deep forwards, but can also impact the scoreboard and can kick straight, which is really important. I also have the versatility to go through the midfield and be clean at ground level,” he says.

“I like to take bits off Hugh McCluggage. I probably have him in height and weight, but he’s versatile through the forward line and the midfield, especially his midfield display (in the finals). But then also how he gets the scoreboard and how clean he is and that forward 50 is really impressive. I like to model my game off that.”

TOP 10 LOOMS …

Melbourne was the first AFL team to reach out to Robey following his third Talent League match. As Robey says, it’s “pretty much skyrocketed from there”.

“By the end of the combine, I’ll be up to all 18,” he says.

The Demons didn’t have a first-round pick when they first met with Robey. Now they have two (Picks 7 and 8) thanks to Christian Petracca’s departure to the Gold Coast Suns.

While Willem Duursma and Cooper Duff-Tytler are widely considered the top two prospects in this year’s open draft pool – Robey said he’d take Duursma if he had Pick 1 – Robey is now considered among that next tier of non-club tied players.

Richmond (Picks 3 and 4) and Essendon (Picks 5 and 6) both have multiple selections prior to the pair of picks for Melbourne, which might have to trade up the draft order if it really wants Robey.

For what it’s worth, Robey is an Essendon supporter. “Dad’s dad used to fly aeroplanes, so Dad just inherited the Bombers,” he says.

Robey’s parents have clearly been the biggest influences.

Mum, Brooke, was diagnosed with bowel cancer midway through 2024 and underwent chemotherapy before thankfully being given the all-clear this year.

The Robey’s know a thing or two about fighting through adversity.

“Just Mum’s resilience over the past couple of years has been really impressive and I’ve taken a lot from her in terms of pushing through,” Robey says.

“Dad as well, just how he’s handled everything and what he does with his job and how he treats us boys is really important. I take a lot from both them.”

While Robey always believed he’d eventually make the AFL, he was prepared for a slow burn of earning a lifeline as a mature-age recruit and winning his way onto a list via a state league team.

So for him now to be in the top-10 mix is wild.

“I always had a bit of belief that I’d get my opportunity one way or another,” he says. “It was just whether that time was going to come this year or in the next couple of years. I was never in doubt, to be honest, I always knew that I had what it takes.

“I think mentally, I’m more than prepared to be honest. Physically, there’s a lot for me to work on in terms of skills and stuff like that. But I think it’s exciting to know that this is my base level and that I’ve got a really high ceiling ahead of me.

“If I’m lucky enough to get on an AFL list, I’m looking forward to learning off a few of the best, getting into all the facilities and having the freedom to really strive.”