Which club has the better crop of young talent - Adelaide or Port Adelaide?

Daniel Menzel has analysed the lists of both Adelaide and Port Adelaide to pick which club has the better youngsters.

The former Geelong and Sydney forward did the exercise by analysing both of the club’s players who are aged 26 or under and are currently in the best 22.

He found that both clubs have 11 of their 22 best players aged 26 or under at the start of 2025.

Menzel’s analysis focused on whether any of those players were already A-graders or could get there by the time they are 26 years old.

“I've had a look at Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows’ lists and where their team is built and their demographic age-wise,” Menzel told SEN SA Breakfast.

“The question is, who is set up to be in a better position in the coming seasons?

“For both Port and the Crows 11 of their best 22, so 50 per cent of their current team are under the age of 26.

“If you're going to have a crack at it for the next five or six years, guys that are past 26 we know a lot of them won't be there in three, four or five years’ time.

“I want to talk about whether these guys at both clubs are elite A-graders or whether they're going to get there.”

For Port Adelaide, Menzel picked Jason Horne-Francis, Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Mitch Georgiades as players who were already A-graders or could get there by 26 years old.

For the Crows, he picked five names - Max Michalanney, Josh Rachele, Jake Soligo, Riley Thilthorpe and Izak Rankine under the same criteria.

While he thinks Adelaide has one more player than Port Adelaide who can enter that top echelon, he would rather have the Power’s list going forward given the sheer firepower of Rozee, Butters and Horne-Francis out of the middle.

“In terms of absolute A-grade elite that you can build your club around I've got four for Port Adelaide and five for the Crows. It is very, very close,” Menzel said.

“There are a lot of very close to A-grade players in there … I actually think both of these lists are in a great position for in a couple of years’ time to be able to contend.

“It is so crucial with Tasmania coming into the competition in that period that the next two to three drafts and trade periods for the Crows and Port are massive because they will be thereabouts in two-or-three-years’ time.

“The question was, who are you taking? I am going to go with, by a hair, Port Adelaide.

“The reason being is, I'm going to back in the sheer firepower of Port Adelaide's three gun midfielders in Horne-Francis, Rozee and Butters that you can build around them.”

Listen to Menzel’s full analysis of the young guns at both clubs here.