Two draft hopefuls, two knee injuries, one long road back
Gus White is 18, a South Adelaide midfielder, and he is still in the hunt for an AFL draft spot this November. He has done it with a knee that was badly hurt early in the 2026 season.
White injured his anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, which is one of the main ligaments that hold the knee together. It happened in round 2 against North Adelaide. Scans confirmed the damage a couple of days later. He has played only one full game this year.
He has now reached the six-month mark of his recovery, as ABC News reports. He was invited to the AFL Draft Combine, the testing camp where clubs measure draft prospects and watch them run drills. He could not take part.
Another North Adelaide teenager knows that road well. Memphis Webb, also 18, is a midfielder for the club. He tore his ACL in round 2 of the 2025 SANFL season, the state league that sits just below the AFL. He stepped away from football for a year to recover, then returned in round 4 of 2026.
White turned to Webb for advice on handling his own recovery. The two have a lot in common now, even if they are at different stages of the comeback. Webb was also invited to the national combine. He ended up playing at a state event instead, because he was sick on the day.
The draft is a narrow window. Clubs watch players in a handful of games and a few testing sessions, and the teenagers chasing a list spot get only so many chances to prove their speed and body are back. Neither Webb nor White has had much of a season to show that yet.
What stands out is how each of them kept going. Both have had to rebuild their knees while their names still sit on draft lists, and both are doing it at 18.
