Collingwood puts South Australian draft prospects in shoes of banned Australian Test cricketers

Collingwood has used a role-playing exercise involving Australian cricket’s ball-tampering scandal to grill prospects ahead of next week’s drafts.

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COLLINGWOOD has used a role-playing exercise involving Australian cricket’s ball- tampering scandal to grill prospects ahead of next week’s drafts.

The Magpies went left-field during their questioning to put potential draftees, including some of SA’s top prospects, in the shoes of David Warner, Steve Smith or Cameron Bancroft after “sandpaper-gate” in South Africa in March.

Emerging SA stars Jack Lukosius and Jackson Hately told The Advertiser Collingwood recruiting staff asked them to pretend they were one of the banned Aussie trio and respond to the situation of being caught cheating.

Jack Lukosius speaks to the media during the AFL Draft Combine. Picture: Michael Wilson/AFL Media/Getty Images

“When the South African ball tampering scandal went down they asked me to be David Warner in a press conference after it all happened,” Woodville-West Torrens forward Lukosius said.

Central District midfielder Hately played Bancroft while Magpies recruiters were in the role of the media.

“They asked me why I did it and how did I feel, so that was strange,” Hately said.

The Advertiser understands the ball-tampering questions were used to get a feel for the strength of character and the prospects’ ability to lead and follow.

Collingwood recruiters also asked what draftees would do if they were in Steve Smith’s position as a captain under immense pressure following the day’s play in Cape Town.

Or, as the inexperienced Bancroft, how they would respond to taking the instruction from senior players.

Cameron Bancroft was caught red-handed by TV cameras during the third Test in Cape Town.

Central District draft prospect Jackson Hately. Picture: Matt Loxton

Left-field questions are common during the draft process as clubs attempt to delve deep into who players are and how they think.

Catching prospects off-guard is nothing new for Collingwood, which is known to also ask players prior to the draft to liken themselves to a fruit and their reasons why.

North Adelaide’s Connor Rozee answered “an orange” because he was “tough on the outside and soft on the inside”.

Norwood’s Luke Valente had a similar response.

“I think I said I was a watermelon because I was tough and had a bit of sweet stuff on the inside or something … I don’t know,” said Valente, the SA under-18 captain.

SA under-18 players after winning the national championships. Back row: Hugo Munn, Connor Rozeee, Jackson Hately and Luke Valente. Front row: Izak Rankine and Jack Lukosius. Picture: Tait Schmaal

South Adelaide midfielder Tom Sparrow was asked by a club to have a two-minute conversation about anything other than football with someone he had never met.

Other quirky questions include asking draftees to compare themselves to a car, to count backwards from a certain number in sevens, spell a word in reverse and if they will eat something out of a garbage bin if requested.

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Originally published as Collingwood puts South Australian draft prospects in shoes of banned Australian Test cricketers