SotaramAFL
2026 AFL National Draft

Tate Hodgson: 2026 AFL Draft profile

High IQ Defender

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

2026 NATIONAL DRAFTTop 60 · EDITORIAL RANGEVIC
Position
Key Defender
Listed height
193 cm
Club / region
Northern Knights (VIC Metro)
Projected range
Top 60 (editorial)
SOTARAMAFL SCOUTING VIEW

Tate Hodgson scouting report

Tate Hodgson is the 2026 draft’s "forgotten" defensive diamond. A 193cm intercepting pillar, he missed his 2025 season with back stress fractures but remains an elite prospect due to his Under 16 All-Australian pedigree. Renowned for a sky-high football IQ and "ice-cold" composure, Hodgson is a defensive architect who reads the play two steps ahead, peeling off to intercept with surgical precision.

Hodgson's appeal is in making a defensive decision early, so the contest is shaped before the ball reaches him. An intercept is most useful when it is followed by an assured possession that gives the backline a chance to move out. We would look for that judgement to stay reliable when an opponent takes away his preferred position and makes him defend a longer or more physical passage.

AFL player comparison

Tom Stewart

Hodgson mirrors Stewart’s "defensive general" archetype, utilizing elite spatial awareness and high-end footy IQ to consistently intercept opposition attacks while remaining a calm, creative distributor from the last line.

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

Where could Tate Hodgson fit in the 2026 AFL Draft?

The simulator currently places Tate Hodgson 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 →

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Listed measurements and club connections come from the public simulator pool. See sources, methodology and corrections.