2026 AFL National Draft

David Shanahan: 2026 AFL Draft profile

Mobile Connective Tall

SotaramAFL scouting view · Website profile expanded 26 October 2026 · Draft ranges from 19 October snapshot

2026 NATIONAL DRAFTTop 60 · EDITORIAL RANGEWA

Position: Key Position Utility
Listed height: 196 cm
Club / region: Swan Districts (WAFL Colts / WA)
Projected range: Top 60 (editorial)

SOTARAMAFL SCOUTING VIEW

David Shanahan scouting report

David Shanahan is one of the 2026 draft crop’s most fascinating, raw "project talls." Towering at a commanding 196cm and weighing 85kg, the Swan Districts and Trinity College prospect is an incredibly athletic, high-running mobile tall talent who has forced his way onto club radars. After getting a solid taste of WAFL Colts action as a bottom-ager, Shanahan’s unique physical profile saw him named as a train-on player for Western Australia's state academy program. He is a highly versatile, long-striding prospect who isn’t anchored to a static position; he covers vast patches of turf, tracks ground-level traffic remarkably well for his size, and uses his sweeping reach to influence contests either as a developing key defender, a high-pressing forward, or an athletic backup ruck option.

Shanahan offers a development path built around learning to use his reach and movement in a settled role. His flexibility gives a coach options, but a clear primary assignment would make it easier to judge his positioning and decisions from one week to the next. We would look for reliable contest habits and useful possession work to develop before expecting him to carry responsibility across several different tall roles.

AFL player comparison

Todd Marshall

Standing at an agile 196cm, Shanahan mirrors Marshall’s signature "mobile connective tall" infrastructure. He isn't a massive, brute-force forward who wants to sit under high balls and wrestle key defenders in the goal square. Instead, he relies on smart leading patterns, sharp lateral movement, and clean, one-touch execution on the lead.

Scouting text, projected ranges and comparisons are SotaramAFL editorial assessments, rather than confirmed club decisions or predictions of career achievements.

Where could David Shanahan fit in the 2026 AFL Draft?

The simulator currently places David Shanahan in the Top 60 group. Compare the role and scouting assessment with the players available at your club’s selection, then test an alternative in your own mock draft.

Match statistics and combine testing

The scouting view is written for this website. Published measurements and their sources appear in the athletic profile below where available; a missing result is not a zero or proof of non-participation.

PROSPECT INTELLIGENCE / 2026

The athletic profile

The numbers. The draft context. The bigger picture.

0/ 5core tests published

SOTARAMAFL SCOUTING VIEW

Top 60 projected band

74 profiles share this band · editorial snapshot, 19 October 2026

Pick 1Pick 30Pick 60

Highlighted span: picks 1–60. A range, not an exact ranking or consensus score.

Dots show known results from the same event and protocol. Higher on the bar means faster or higher. This leader-biased sample does not represent the whole draft class.

Compare with a named historical mark. These are benchmark gaps, not all-time rankings or percentiles. National and state conditions can differ.

No verified measurements to plot yet

We will add the bars when attributable results are available. Missing data is not a low score and does not establish whether a player tested.

20m sprint —Agility —2km time trial —Standing vertical jump —Running vertical jump —

How to read this profile

Rankings use only published results collected for the same test and event, with competition ranking for ties. The denominator is the number of known results, not all participants. Preliminary and unofficial figures are shown without ranks or historical comparisons. Reaching-hand, side-specific and counter-movement protocols stay separate.

Scouting bands are the site's existing editorial view; no numerical skill ratings have been inferred from prose. Historical marks use the AFL's records reference. The 2km event began in 2017; no 3km, beep-test or Yo-Yo conversion is used. Harry Sharp's 2020 mark is a historical reference across differing event conditions. Finlay Yeo's WA agility result may surpass the national benchmark without changing that benchmark's event scope.

Research reviewed 26 October 2026. Read coverage and source discrepancies →