This is the time of the year where first-round prospects, shock bolters and young guns with familiar surnames seem to be exclusively celebrated ahead of the AFL draft.
Ashton Moir doesn’t fit into any of those categories. By his own admission, he’s a slider.
Rather, this is a story of a player who entered his draft year as a top-five prospect, but will end it grateful to any club that gives him an AFL opportunity at any point in the draft.
Yet Moir believes his rollercoaster journey could ultimately be a blessing in disguise.
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“It’s pretty frustrating. It actually kills me that I’m not in that talk (top-five contention) at the moment,” a candid Moir told foxfooty.com.au at last month’s national draft combine.
“But in the end I reckon it could be a good thing. Now that I’ve been able to get my body right, I’m really excited to hopefully get drafted and show everyone what I can really do.
“Something my mum says to me all the time is that ‘everyone has their own story’. I guess for myself, it could be that potential top five to slide – and then hopefully back up to the top next year, because I know I’ll be able to train as hard as everyone else does.”
An AFL Academy member, Moir showed off his exciting potential at last year’s national championships for SA as a bottom-ager, which included a four-goal haul against WA playing near the goalsquare. He also kicked 30 majors in 10 games – including five hauls of four goals or more – playing as a 17-year-old at Under 18s level.
His mercurial nature, high-flying marking, class with ball in hand, ability to kick seamlessly on either foot and accurate set-shot record had recruiters excited.
Moir then started his 2023 campaign in good touch, kicking 10 goals from his first three games for Glenelg across SANFL Under 18s and Reserves level.
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But during one of his early Reserves matches, a niggling pain in Moir’s hip started bothering him.
And that was the beginning of a “frustrating”, inconsistent draft year.
While Moir still kicked goals in every Under 18s game he played for the rest of the year, he wasn’t as dominant and explosive as scouts expected him to be. When he returned to reserves level for another four games, he struggled to impact.
Some scouts thought he wasn’t being released up the ground enough during games. But even if he had been, Moir doubts whether he would’ve been able to truly influence matches due to his injury.
And after some breathtaking performances for his state as a bottom-ager, Moir didn’t get going for SA at the national championships, kicking three goals and averaging 9.8 disposals from his four matches.
“My hip probably didn’t help me at all this year,” he said. “It probably started really early in the year in the first reserves game and then it started annoying me up until the end of nationals.
“I started off just getting sore I guess just during the games and ended up having to go off at half-time. It got diagnosed originally as a TFL (Tensor Fascia Latae) injury, so I just kept playing with it and training. In the end, it ended up being Bursitis, so just an overuse injury.
“After my hip actually stopped hurting physically, I really lost all my speed, agility, power – and it really annoyed me mentally, knowing I could normally go get that ball or kick longer than I could at the time.
“It was definitely frustrating, but I can only control what I can control … I feel like it’s put me in a bit of a head start to other draftees and players, being able to face adversity when it comes to injuries and be better for next year and get fit and strong.”
While Moir was struggling for consistency, Glenelg’s reserves team was flying, dominating the competition to finish the home and away season on top of the ladder with a 16-2 record.
Despite the lure of potentially playing in a premiership team, Moir decided to pull the pin on his 2023 campaign and focus on his preparation for October’s national draft combine.
Glenelg ended up beating Sturt by 10 points at Adelaide Oval on grand final day. But Moir doesn’t regret his call, for he knew he needed an on-field break.
“It was good to have that four or five weeks just to get it right, get my body fully fit and get nice and strong again,” he said.
“It was a really good reset and I’m feeling really confident now.”
Part of Moir’s pre-combine strategy was to reconnect with the personal trainer he worked so closely with in 2022. That move played a role in his excellent agility test result at Margaret Court Arena, recording a time of 8.244 seconds – ranked sixth of all national combine participants.
But he now also feels in a better space mentally.
“We literally went back to the normal stuff that we’d been doing,” Moir said. “Your dead lifts, your extra running sessions, going for a lot of walks, getting my diet right, getting a lot of sleep and even things like journalling as well – it’s been really good for me.
“I’d never really got into that kind of stuff (journalling) at all, but I felt like it really helped and I’m still doing it now. I definitely recommend it for other players as well.”
Moir hasn’t been invited to attend the first round but is still expected to be picked up at some stage during the national draft next week. He’s been heavily linked to West Coast – he’s an Eagles fan and he has family based in WA – while Carlton has also emerged as a possible suitor.
While Moir is aware of the external noise – both about his slide down draft boards and links to clubs – he doesn’t want to get consumed by it.
Someone who’s helped him significantly in this space is NBL MVP winner Jerome Randle, who played 130 games across stints with both the Adelaide 36ers and Sydney Kings. Moir says Randle is “like my big brother”.
“He’s been massive for me, especially mentally off the field and teaching me to be a better person and when I was playing basketball, to be a better basketballer too,” he said.
“I was lucky enough to go over to America with Jerome and do some training over there with a couple of NBA trainers, which was pretty cool.
“His best advice was just not to worry about any external stuff. Just to focus on what you can control and what you do is what really matters most.”
Moir, 187cm, models his game of Swans star Isaac Heeney as that classy medium forward who “impacts both aerially and at ground level”.
He believes he plays his best “when I just kind of let go, have fun and play naturally”. So if it clicks for him at AFL level, his highlights package will be elite.
“I’m confident in my ability and my physical state at the moment,” he said.
“I’m just ready to be a full-time professional athlete. I feel like I was the last couple of years as well, so I just feel like I’m just ready to move on.”
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