Crows chairman Rob Chapman says COVID-19 throws spanner in the works of club’s recruiting plans but backs Hamish Ogilvie to still unearth some gems
Adelaide chairman Rob Chapman has described the timing of the coronavirus pandemic as “just our luck’’, but has backed the club’s recruiting staff to unearth the elite talent that will continue to fuel its “rejuvenation” program.
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Adelaide Crows chairman Rob Chapman has described the timing of the coronavirus pandemic as “just our luck’’ but has backed the club’s recruiting staff to unearth the elite talent that will continue to fuel its “rejuvenation” program.
Days after AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said he was “very confident’’ a draft would be held this year, despite the possibility of AFL clubs having to trim lists and no under-18 games being played this season, Chapman said highly-respected recruiter Hamish Ogilvie would still have a strong handle on the best talent.
Adelaide – in rebuilding mode after trading away a host of key players at the end of last season, including veteran fan favourites Eddie Betts and Sam Jacobs – is armed with one of its greatest draft hauls.
It currently holds four selections inside the first two rounds and another pair of third-round picks following some astute wheeling and dealing last year.
But Chapman conceded the COVID-19 pandemic had thrown a major spanner in the works, with questions over how many players the AFL will allow to be drafted and a lack of games halting the development of some players.
“As soon as this (coronavirus) started, the people involved with the recruitment and selection of draftees said, ‘that would be our luck, we’ve got our best (draft) hand for a number of years and we get thrown a pandemic,’’ Chapman said.
“But we’ve been tracking players in the system for years, you start tracking them pretty early now, so we sort of know what we’re dealing with.
“You’re probably not going to get to see them play as much, if at all, so you are going to be relying on 2019 data and what you have seen and heard of these players.
“But everyone is going to be in the same boat. This is where the recruiters are going to have to earn their money, like they do every year.
“I’m pretty confident we’ll get what we’re after and that they’ll complement what’s already an exciting squad and one we’re building for the next couple of years.’’
Ogilvie – Adelaide’s national recruiting manager – admitted there were “a lot of unknowns’’ about how this season might pan out but that he had a good grasp on the 2020 draft crop, which includes standout West Adelaide tall Riley Thilthorpe and father-son prospect Luke Edwards (son of club legend Tyson), from Glenelg.
“We did a lot of vision when we knew this (pandemic) was coming, so we did every game that was played this year across the country,” Ogilvie told the club’s website.
“We got to a fair few (live games) early before it got cut off, then we did every game on vision, so we have a reasonable feel for it.
“The boys have done the hub camps in South Australia and Western Australia before this happened and a couple of Victorian interview days as well.
“We’ve done a fair few interviews. Not to the level you’d like to go into a draft, but hopefully, we can pick that up later in the year.”
The AFL has temporarily banned clubs from interviewing draft prospects to allow them to focus on their education.
This has left scouts – who have been stood down by their clubs while the AFL season is in shutdown mode – to continue to scour vision.
Ogilvie conceded late, speculative picks would be more risky this year if games don’t resume.
“That’s going to become really testing if we don’t get any more footy,’’ he said.
“But you’d rather have them (draft picks) than not, so that’s worked out pretty well that we’ve got those in the bank.
“But it’s just how much goes ahead, what goes ahead, there’s a lot of unknowns with what would happen with your picks.’’