North Adelaide was planning to lose up to five players in the AFL draft — and that’s what happened this week

North Adelaide says it was planning to be cleaned out at last week’s AFL draft and losing five premiership players is a badge of honour rather than headache for the club’s title defence.

Boyd Woodcock and Connor Rozee are off to AFL club Port Adelaide together after being drafted last week. Picture: Matt Loxton.

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North Adelaide says it was planning to be cleaned out at last week’s AFL draft and losing five premiership players is a badge of honour rather than headache for the club’s title defence.

The Roosters lost three players in Thursday’s national draft and two in the rookie draft on Friday including three mature-age stars.

Teenagers Connor Rozee and Boyd Woodcock were expected to be snapped up in the national draft and both went to Port Adelaide, but the surprise packet was 23-year-old Robbie Young who joined St Kilda.

Club champion Callum Wilkins and ruckman Jordan Sweet then joined them on an AFL list as rookies.

“I’m delighted for them all, they’ve all deserved their opportunity and each one of them has a different story,” North Adelaide chief executive Greg Edwards said.

“On the other side you lose five players from your grand final, and normally your draftees are 18 and have played a couple of league games, but this year it’s a bit different, they were all really important players through our whole season and especially in the finals.

“But we’ve been prepared over the last month or so, we were going to get one or five drafted and that’s how we prepared ourselves.

Robbie Young has joined St Kilda after one year with North Adelaide. Picture: Dylan Coker.

“We knew the scenario might come up and we’ve got the clean sweep.

“Now we know who’s not going to be there we need to channel our energy into who is, and we’ve been speaking to a number of boys who have shown some interest so in the next week or two we’ll hopefully close those loops and bring a couple of guys in.”

Edwards said the club’s draft haul was icing on the cake of a fairytale season in which the league and reserves both won the premiership and the senior side came from last on the ladder in 2017.

“I’ve had messages back from all the boys who were drafted and from Connor all the way through, they all thanked the club and said they looked forward to still popping in from time to time,” Edwards said.

“Robbie Young’s message to me was ‘I’ve had the greatest year that I could imagine’ and it’s nice to have a year like we’ve had before they go.

“Particularly for a guy like Callum who has been here since under-13s, it’s so fantastic that we’re premiers in 2018 then he gets drafted. He’s now a premiership player and it would have been disappointing if he went last year and missed out.”

Callum Wilkie has joined Robbie Young at the Saints. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe.

Proving the adage ‘good big men don’t grow on trees’, ruckmen were in high demand in the off-season and Sweet’s finals series helped secure his path to the Western Bulldogs.

Rival SANFL clubs South Adelaide and Central District also lost their ruckmen in the off-season with Keegan Booksby to join West Coast and Darcy Fort drafted by Geelong.

Jordan Sweet celebrates a goal in this year’s SANFL semi-final. Picture: Sarah Reed.

But there was no second chance for Norwood midfielder Mitch Grigg despite his Magarey and Jack Oatey Medal winning double this season and six-goal grand final performance in the Redlegs’ loss to the Roosters.

NORTH ADELAIDE’S FAB FIVE

Connor Rozee

Age: 18

Position: Midfield/half-back

National Draft Pick No. 5 to Port Adelaide

“Connor is the highly talented kid from a junior age that we all knew would end up in this situation.”

Robbie Young

Age: 23

Position: Forward/midfield

National Draft Pick No. 67 to St Kilda

“Robbie is a game breaker who has as many AFL traits as anyone else, he’s had a few injuries and at North (from Port) this year allowed him to play every game.”

Boyd Woodcock

Age: 18

Position: Small forward

National Draft Pick No. 76 to Port Adelaide

“Boyd had to fight his guts out for a league spot and did everything the coach asked, he played some really good roles for us.”

Callum Wilkie

Age: 22

Position: Half-back/midfield

Rookie Draft Pick No. 3 to St Kilda

“Callum is an interesting one, he’s been runner-up best-and-fairest and now won our best-and-fairest this year, he couldn’t do any more for an opportunity and he’ll make the most of it.”

Jordan Sweet

Age: 20

Position: Ruck

Rookie Draft Pick No. 23 to Western Bulldogs

“Jordan really stood out in finals as a ruckman to develop. He played in the reserves and got a call-up late in the season.”