ETPL 2026 Draft: How Glenn Maxwell and his team shaped the ‘Wolf pack’

Months of anticipation and planning culminated in a single morning of decisions, and the ETPL's inaugural player draft proved that the wait was well worth it. One by one, the league's six franchises laid their cards on the table — some chasing proven international names, along with local talent, others betting on players they believe will define their teams’ future in the league. 

The rules of the room were simple but strict. Every franchise had to build from the ground up across the three host nations. Each team had a maximum of six picks that they could make and the cap for players from the three countries - Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands – was 12 each. It was a format designed to protect the ETPL's founding promise — that this would be a competition rooted in local cricket, not one that simply imported its stars. The draft's snake order (pre-decided sequence of teams picking reversed after each round) kept things honest, forcing teams to think two, three, four moves ahead. Often the player a certain team wanted vanished off the available players’ list on the draft portal, because some other team had beaten them to it. Strategies had to change on the spur of the moment. Patience was indeed a virtue here.

One team which embodied that patience rather well was the Belfast Wolves. Co-owner and captain Glenn Maxwell went into the day with a plan and, crucially, several backup plans, and it showed in the squad he walked away with. The Wolves anchored their top order around Paul Stirling — an Irish legend— and paired him with the emerging Tim Tector, one of the brightest young batting talents Ireland has produced in years. In the bowling department, they moved early for left-armer Fred Klaassen and Ireland's Matthew Humphreys, before rounding out their sixth pick with Scotland's Zainullah Ihsan and Dutch all-rounder Alexander Roy.

For Maxwell, the satisfaction lay not just in the names but in how the afternoon unfolded. Sitting down after the picks were done, he admitted the day had a way of rewarding those who came prepared.

"We did a lot of pre-planning heading into today to make sure that we were equipped for any curveballs that got thrown our way. And luckily enough, the draft went a little bit different to what we thought. There was a couple of players that were left for us to take, which we didn't expect to be there. So, it ended up working out really well for us. We're extremely happy with the balance that we have in our squad and the options that we've got to hopefully go deep into this tournament," Maxwell, who has played 286 internationals for Australia said.

It was a telling insight into how the people responsible for the picks – the draft operators, if you will - approached the room. Maxwell described juggling several conversations at once, constantly checking names off and adjusting focus as rival teams made their moves — the kind of live problem-solving the snake format is built to demand. When targets disappeared, the Wolves pivoted; when players slid further than anyone predicted, they pounced.

That willingness to adapt has left Belfast with a squad that is genuinely well-rounded — experience at the top, youth to grow into the tournament, and enough variety with the ball to trouble any line-up across a long campaign. Whether it proves enough to go the distance is a question only the time can answer. 

With the draft now behind them, attention turns from the boardroom to the ground. The buzz around the ETPL's draft picks day says plenty about what lies ahead: a league where the established names of European will share a dressing room with rising stars and overseas talent, all chasing the same prize. The teams have their arsenals ready. But for the Wolf pack, and for everyone else, the real challenge starts now.