No more heat on draft team than usual, despite Gibbs mess, say Crows

ADELAIDE has denied it is under greater pressure to nail its top pick at the national draft following the collapse of the Bryce Gibbs trade.

Bryce Gibbs ... the Crows deny that the ill-fated attempt to bring him to West Lakes has put the club under more pressure at the draft. Picture: Quinn Rooney (Getty Images)

ADELAIDE has denied it is under greater pressure to nail its top pick at the national draft following the collapse of the Bryce Gibbs trade.

The Crows refused to hand over their first selections at this year and next year’s draft for the star Blues onballer, who wanted to return to Adelaide for family reasons and would have bolstered a midfield that lacks star power.

This puts a greater spotlight on Adelaide’s first pick on Friday night — currently No. 13 overall — but national recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie says the pressure is always high with any first-round pick.

“There’s always pressure to get it right,’’ he said.

“You put that pressure on yourself and as a (recruiting) team because we want to get all the picks right, particularly the top ones, and that’s the case again.

“I reckon the industry has got way better at getting that first-round right, so that makes it very important because it is such an important pick.’’

The Crows have selected standout key defender Jake Lever (No. 14) and classy midfielder Wayne Milera (11) with their top selection at the past two drafts.

Ogilvie said Adelaide, which currently has live picks at 13, 43, 53, 66 and 82, would select purely on talent in what is considered a deep, even pool, where some future stars could be found in the 40-to-50 range.

The Crows are likely to target a midfielder early, although versatile North Adelaide forward Will Hayward could be appealing.

“We always draft for the future with talent and trade for needs,’’ Ogilvie said.

Ogilvie said Adelaide would consider Ben Jarman if he was the best player on offer with one of its picks.

“We know everything about him so we will consider him the same as all the others,’’ he said.

“We understand the emotion and the supporters’ view with him being the club’s first father-son prospect but we just can’t make decisions on emotion.

“We have to weigh everything up and make hard decisions that sometimes are not popular.’’