It’s one of football’s great hypothetical questions … what would the 2024 AFL National Draft look like if it was re-drafted now?
While it might be too early to make too many sweeping calls on early picks who are yet to show their true worth, one thing is for certain – Ty Gallop would be taken much earlier than #42.
His nomination this week for the 2026 AFL Rising Star Award is further confirmation that the Sunshine Coast junior is bound for big things, and another snub to the collective recruiting teams of most AFL clubs.
He was ignored 41 times by 15 rival clubs in the 2024 National Draft – Richmond no less than seven times, GWS four times, and St.Kilda, Essendon, Port Adelaide, Sydney and the Western Bulldogs three times.
Geelong bid on Gallop at pick #42, forcing Brisbane’s hand, while Collingwood was the only other club not to go past the then 18-year-old key position utility.
It was the start of an AFL journey which already has hit heights far above the early expectations of a pick #42.
He is just the third player among 761 AFL Rising Star nominees since the inception of the award in 1993 to have won a premiership before his nomination.
The others have been Brisbane’s Richard Hadley, who was a premiership player in 2003 before he was nominated in 2004, and Melbourne’s Jake Bowey, a 2021 premiership player nominated in 2022.
Quite remarkably, too, Gallop was nominated on the back of his outstanding form this year in defence – despite having played his entire junior career and his 2025 debut season as a forward. And after he was not invited to the AFL Draft Combine in his draft year.
His pre-draft assessment on the ‘Rookie Me Central’ website wasn’t over the top.
It read: “A traditional key forward who is a strong marking key forward. Applying plenty of scoreboard pressure consistently for both the Brisbane Lions Academy and Allies, Gallop was able to provide a strong target inside 50. While not receiving a Draft Combine invitation, Gallop did enough throughout the year to remain an AFL Draft chance.”
A draft chance? He’s been an absolute steal.
From Sunshine Coast junior club Kawana Park and Maroochydore via the Lions Academy, Gallop debuted in Round 13 2025 against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Friday night, 6 June. It was Queensland Day – but the young Queenslander was dropped the following week.
He was recalled against Hawthorn at the Gabba in Round 24 after fellow Sunshine Coaster Eric Hipwood was injured, and held his spot through the four-game finals campaign.
Effectively, he was preferred to ex-Suns veteran Sam Day, who played his 168th and last game in the qualifying final loss to Geelong.
In two changes, Day and the injured Lachie Neale were replaced by Bruce Reville and Oscar McInerney for the semi-final against Gold Coast, and when Neale returned for the grand final it was at the expense of the injured Jarrod Berry.
Gallop was never going to miss the ‘big one’ – not after he’d kicked three goals in the MCG preliminary final win against Collingwood in what it still the only time he has kicked more than one goal in a game.
And when he walked off the MCG a premiership player on 27 September he’d played more games at the MCG (3) than he had at the Gabba (2).
Gallop had a career-high 14 possessions and equal career-high six tackles against Sydney last week and played an equal career-high 95% game time, sharing top spot on the time list with captain Harris Andrews.
That coach Chris Fagan has so quickly built up such trust in the 194cm 20-year-old is remarkable.
When he was caught undersized in defence early this year he swung Gallop back despite the fact he had never played in defence in his life. And when he needed an extra tall up forward against Gold Coast in Round 13 this year he played forward.
Remarkably calm under pressure despite his inexperience, strong overhead and willing to take on an attacking kick if it presents, he will be a legitimate swingman – gold in the modern game.
Gallop, 19 games into his career, sits 17th on the games list from the 2024 Draft.
Levi Ashcroft (42) heads the top 10 from Fremantle’s Murphy Reid (38), Melbourne’s Harvey Langford (37), North Melbourne’s Finn O’Sullivan (32), Sydney’s Riley Bice (31), Fremantle’s Isaiah Dudley (30), Essendon’s Isaac Kako (28), Richmond’s Luke Trainor, Bulldogs Sam Davidson (28) and Port Adelaide’s Joe Berry (27).
Others ahead of Gallop are Richmond’s Jonty Faull (26), Essendon’s Lachie Blakiston (25), Melbourne’s Xavier Lindsay and West Coast’s Hamish Davis (23), Bulldogs Cooper Hynes and Port’s Christian Moraes (21).
Other top 20 picks drafted ahead of Gallop who have played fewer games are Carlton pick #3 Jagger Smith (15), Adelaide #4 Sid Draper (10), Richmond #7 Josh Smilie (0), StKilda #8 Toby Travaglia (12), Gold Coast #9 Leo Lombard (18), StKilda #10 Alix Tauru (18), Richmond #12 Taj Hotton (1), West Coast #16 Bo Allan (17), GWS #18 Ollie Hannaford (5) and #19 Harry Oliver (3).
But the games statistics that matters most are finals and premierships. Gallop, Ashcroft and Sam Marshall, Brisbane’s three picks in the 2024 Draft, each played four finals and won a flag in their first season, while Reid and Dudley, with one final each for Fremantle, are the only others to have played in September.
Gallop has made his name in the #22 jumper that was the trademark of Chris Scott through the Lions’ golden era of 2001-02-03 after Scott won the AFL Rising Star crown in it in his first season in 1994.
Gallop’s Rising Star nomination is Brisbane’s 54th, pushing them to equal top spot on the all-time nominee list with Essendon,
Melbourne (52), West Coast (49), Hawthorn (47), Richmond (46), Collingwood, Fremantle and Western Bulldogs (43), Carlton (42), Port Adelaide (39), Geelong, North Melbourne and Sydney (38), Adelaide (37), StKilda (35), expansion clubs Gold Coast (29) and GWS (28), and Fitzroy (6).
Brisbane also shares top spot on the all-time Rising Star winners list with four – Nathan Buckley (1993), Chris Scott (1994), Daniel Rich (2009) and Lewis Taylor (2014).
Other overall winners have come from Fremantle (4), Melbourne, Sydney (3), Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong, Hawthorn, North, Port and StKilda (2), Adelaide, Carlton, Gold Coast, Richmond and West Coast (1). GWS and Western Bulldogs have not won the award.
