{"id":16563,"date":"2026-05-22T11:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/16563\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:04:14","slug":"afl-mid-season-draft-teenage-east-perth-backman-jake-soutar-interviewed-by-victorian-outfit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/16563\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL Mid-Season Draft: Teenage East Perth backman Jake Soutar interviewed by Victorian outfit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">East Perth backman Jake Soutar looms as the most surprising of state league footballers to be picked up in the mid-season rookie draft on Tuesday, with a Victorian club showing interest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The West Australian can reveal North Melbourne met with Soutar during the week as they look to bolster their defensive stocks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">It would be an incredible rise for Soutar, who has only established himself in the Royals\u2019 backline this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">A 190cm key position player, Soutar made his league debut against Claremont in round 20 of last year before playing in the Royals\u2019 reserves premiership victory against the Tigers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Soutar, 19, had an impressive 28 touches and nine marks in round one to force his way back into the league side the next week, where he has played the past five games averaging 11 touches and five marks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">North Melbourne opened up a spot on their list on Friday when they put first-year defender Blake Thredgold on the inactive list because of a foot injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The Kangaroos have been on the hunt for key defenders, having also shown interest in Claremont backman Jasper Peace.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/645e90ed3197dcf16b269cd3fa4e86ef5594b728.jpg\" alt=\"North Melbourne have also shown interest in Jasper Peace.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconNorth Melbourne have also shown interest in Jasper Peace. Credit: Jackson Flindell\/The West Australian<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">As revealed by The West Australian, Peace was interviewed by the Eagles during the week on the back of a standout 18 months at the Tigers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Several other WAFL stars are also in line to earn a spot on an AFL list on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">West Perth\u2019s Kane Bevan is tipped to go after attracting interest from several clubs including West Coast and Greater Western Sydney.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Perth ruckman Josh Edwards has been scouted by both Essendon and Collingwood who are desperate for ruck depth, while Tigers small forward turned midfielder Zac Mainwaring has also caught the eye of several clubs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">South Fremantle premiership wingman Jaxon Artemis is tipped to be the No.1 pick after a standout start to the season for Tasmania\u2019s VFL side.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Meanwhile, former Bulldogs reserves backman Tom Bell has developed strongly at Adelaide\u2019s SANFL side with the Crows and Eagles among the potential contenders to give him a spot on the list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"East Perth backman Jake Soutar looms as the most surprising of state league footballers to be picked up&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[77,16314,16315,4660,335,261,1342],"class_list":["post-16563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-afl","tag-afl-draft","tag-east-perth-football-club","tag-north-melbourne-kangaroos","tag-perth","tag-sport","tag-wafl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}