Essendon has emerged as one of the big winners from the AFL draft
THE Bombers struck gold when they picked Andrew McGrath with the No. 1 pick in the draft but that wasn’t the only reason they were big winners.
ESSENDON has emerged as one of the big winners from Friday night’s national draft, but not entirely as a result of its prized No. 1 selection.
The Bombers took Sandringham’s Andy McGrath with the first pick, narrowly ahead of Hugh McCluggage and Will Setterfield, but it was the players taken with later selections that caught the eye of ex-Hawthorn recruiter Gary Buckenara.
Kobe Mutch landed at Essendon with pick No. 42 after GWS opted not to match the bid for its academy midfielder, while Eastern Ranges onballer Dylan Clarke — taken at No. 63 — was one of the sliders.
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Buckenara, who revealed his top 50 draft talents in an exclusive for the Herald Sun in the lead-up to the draft, had Mutch ranked at No. 13 and Clarke at 40.
“Essendon would be very pleased with their effort,” Buckenara told the Herald Sun.
“Probably out of the Victorian clubs, I would have thought Essendon did the best.
“To me it seems like Essendon did their homework on the talent and the talent flow very well and added more good young players to come onto that list. They’ve got a good haul.
“Mutch was Bendigo’s best player. He’s a nice size, he kicks the ball really well on both sides of his body and is a bit of a playmaker. He has some x-factor.
“He could end up being a really good AFL player if he develops and improves himself in the AFL environment, he has some real upside.
“I rated him pretty highly and to get him where they did was a very good pick.
“Clarke is still improving but he’ll be that really athletic midfielder. He’s very good at stoppages and wins his own ball inside, he just needs to do a little bit of work on his kicking.
“Outside of that he’s a nice sized midfielder with a good strong body.
“Both were rated highly in this draft and to get them late was a great result.”
Mutch and Clarke will join prized recruit McGrath, Jordan Ridley (No. 22) and Josh Begley (No. 31) at Essendon next year.
Buckenara expects McGrath to step straight into coach John Worsfold’s best 22, while he believes Ridley, Mutch and Clarke are all capable of playing senior football in 2017.
After rating McCluggage as the best player in this year’s draft pool, Buckenara wasn’t surprised to see him edged by classy halfback/midfielder McGrath.
“They’re both really good players,” Buckenara said. “We said it was a toss of the coin and they made the call they think is right but only time will tell whether it’s the right one over McCluggage.
“Both were highly touted players for picks one or two and I’m happy for it (to be McGrath).
“McGrath is a powerful player, a great talent and certainly has that ability to break the lines, change direction and use the ball well. He’s a dynamic type of player.
“Hopefully the number one mantle doesn’t affect him too much and he’ll just get on and continue his improvement.”
Originally published as Essendon has emerged as one of the big winners from the AFL draft