How months of planning, interviews and scouting helped Port Adelaide select the players it wanted in the AFL national draft
Port Adelaide this week revealed to The Advertiser its 2019 national draft strategy – before making its picks. It showed how months of planning helped the club get the quartet it wanted.
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AFL drafts combine the bluffing of poker and chess-like strategy with the tension of a close sporting contest, all while putting meticulous planning and relationship-building to the test.
For recruiting managers, they are like footy grand finals.
Drafts are when their opinions, shaped from countless hours of game footage, dozens of interviews with players, their family and teachers, and knowledge of other clubs’ plans, are judged on national TV.
Clubs are not battling for four points or flags but their futures, such is the influence the selections can have.
That is why when things fall into place, footy departments and recruiting teams can feel almost as relieved as when the siren sounds at the end of a tight game.
Port Adelaide this week presented its 2019 national draft strategy exclusively to The Advertiser to provide an insight into how it wanted the nights to unfold – and believed they would pan out.
A document The Advertiser was privy to revealed the four names of the players the Power planned to select with its picks in order.
Port, led by its national recruiting manager Geoff Parker, list boss Jason Cripps and head of football Chris Davies, succeeded in getting exactly what it wanted: Miles Bergman first, followed by Mitch Georgiades, Dylan Williams and father-son nominee Jackson Mead.
It can sound like a cliche when clubs say they are thrilled with their hauls and land who they are after, but it is true for the Power this year.
Davies told The Advertiser teams did not always get their targets – often they snare one of a group of players they were keen on in a particular spot – so it was pleasing when all the planning paid off.
“(Draft war-rooms) are a calm place and you’re just listening to the picks and working out where different players are going to fall,” Davies said.
“When you’re picking the guys you want along the way, it’s a relief that they’ve got to your pick.
“Then after that there’s a little bit of pride, I’m sure, for Jason and Geoff, who do the mountain of work.
“There’s no doubt they’re big moments for people involved.”
Recruiting teams around the league have been planning for the 2019 drafts for several years and Port is no different.
It sorted the 2019 talent pool into an order two weeks ago before narrowing that focus into groups of players it rated similarly, then settling on its preferred quartet.
Port’s list of targets and future pick swaps are ticked off by the board’s football committee, then it is up to Parker, Cripps and Davies to execute the strategy.
Coach Ken Hinkley and his assistants often give feedback on players being considered but the recruiting team is responsible for determining who to draft.
Along the way, Parker and Cripps canvass rival clubs, player managers and other sources to deduce how teams rate its targets and if it can get them down the order or need to trade up.
That knowledge led to Port’s pre-draft trade of pick 29 and next year’s first-rounder with Brisbane for selection 16 because the Power expected a bid for Mead to come before that choice.
“You don’t want to seem too desperate, but we rated him much higher than 29,” Davies said.
Port viewed Bergman as fitting a need – someone who played forward of the ball, was athletic and did not need to gather many possessions to influence games.
It believed it could get him with its first choice – particularly after hearing Melbourne would take small forward Kysaiah Pickett at 12 – but not its second.
Days before the draft, Power officials were told the Western Bulldogs were seriously interested in Bergman with the pick after them so they had to pounce at 14.
It was a similar situation with Georgiades.
Port believed the athletic West Australian forward had significant upside after missing all of 2019 with a persistent quad injury, but sources told the Power they needed to take him at pick 18, otherwise Geelong would with the next choice.
“At the end of last year, Williams and Georgiades were really, really high up on our draft boards,” Davies said.
Going into night two of the draft on Thursday, the Power dropped down from pick 22 to 23 to acquire Brisbane’s 2020 second-round selection, confident the Lions would not bid on Mead or take Williams.
Williams had been in the club’s sights for 12 months and in its thoughts during trade period.
By shipping versatile tall Dougal Howard to St Kilda last month and dropping from 10 to 12 this year, Port effectively netted Williams, that future second-rounder from Brisbane and the Saints’ 2020 third-round call.
Those selections for next year will help Port match points for its father-son prospect Taj Schofield and Next Generation Academy defender Lachie Jones in 2020.
But trust is crucial when posturing for position in the draft order because bluffs can occur.
Decisions are typically made on the balance of probabilities.
“Those things happen where you may not get great information or you’re led up the garden path,” Davies said.
“With trading down on night two, you have to think ‘who’s going to bid on Mead’ and ‘do those clubs have an interest in Williams as well’.
“Sometimes pick trades are made because who other clubs fear you might deal with.
“They were calculated risks but calculated off the back off the information you have.”
Once Port came up with its plan to take who it wanted, it did not deviate.
It did not matter that highly-touted players who were overlooked early were still available at their picks or about eight clubs called the Power seeking to trade for selection 22, before they eventually dealt with Brisbane.
“If someone bid on Mead then took Williams, you’d be devastated … so we wanted to maximise what we got but didn’t want to be too cute,” Davies said.
Time will tell whether Port’s latest crop of draftees can have the same immediate influence as last year’s when top-20 picks Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma played 61 of a possible 66 games between them or even if they will become long-term players for the club.
But right here, right now, the Power is very satisfied with how months of scouting, planning and decision-making have come together.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t … but in this situation we felt like we were well planned, wanted the players we ended up getting … and we’re thankful it’s all worked out,” Davies said.