St Kilda never seriously considered trading pick No.4 in the draft and could swoop on forward Max King

St Kilda never seriously considered trading its prized No.4 draft pick and could swoop on highly-rated key forward Max King in the national draft on Thursday night to partner former No.1 pick Paddy McCartin in the future.

The Saints could take Max King at pick No.4 in Thursday night’s first round of the national draft. Picture: Getty

St Kilda never seriously considered trading its No.4 draft pick and the recent recruitment of Paddy McCartin will have little bearing on the player it selects on Thursday night.

Saints list manager James Gallagher revealed the club had tweaked its recruitment philosophies as it prepares for its first draft under new chief recruiter Chris Liberatore.

“There’s a couple of attributes we’re keen to bring into our list, so they might be higher priorities for us versus other clubs,” Gallagher told the Sunday Herald Sun.

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“We’re looking at players and ranking players based on some of the things we think are really important at St Kilda. That’s maybe a slight shift in philosophy.”

Gallagher said the draft was “littered” with talent as the Saints plan on securing six players — at No.4, 36, 46, 67, 79 plus a rookie.

They have beefed-up their football and started tapping into veteran footy figure Graeme ‘Gubby’ Allan this month.

The Saints could take Max King at pick No.4 in Thursday night’s first round of the national draft. Picture: Getty

“(Gubby’s) not pushing his opinions too firmly on us, and in a way he’d be within his rights to do it,” Gallagher said.

“He’s more there listening and challenging some of the things we’re suggesting and asking questions. We’re also leaning on him with what would you do? What did you do at GWS early on?”

Allan is available to the whole football department as an advisor.

The Saints have also added assistant coaches Brett Ratten (Hawthorn) and Brendon Lade (Port Adelaide), NRL champion Billy Slater (Storm), analyst whiz Darren O’Shaughnessy (Hawthorn) and Gallagher.

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The Saints used the No.1 pick in 2014 on full-forward McCartin and are open to pairing him with 202cm key forward Max King.

“If, say, the last three drafts we’d had early picks and drafted three tall forwards, then it’s a consideration,” Gallagher said.

“But we want to find an elite talent and hopefully the player we get in is performing at a really high level and it’s up to others to get up to that level as well.

The recruitment of Paddy McCartin a few years back has no bearing on who the Saints will take with pick No.4 on Thursday night.

“You need to project. We’re not picking them on necessarily what they’ve done in the last two years, we’re picking that player on what we expect they’ll be able to do for the next 12-15.”

Sam Walsh, Izak Rankine and Jack Lukosius are widely tipped to be taken with the first three picks, leaving King, Connor Rozee and Bailey Smith as leading candidates for the Saints.

Gallagher said the Saints only held “hallway discussions” with Adelaide and Gold Coast over acquiring the No.4 pick.

“We’re not an active seller, we’re pretty happy where we are,” Gallagher said.

“It’s a matter of (list managers) picking up the phone and saying, ‘Do you want to have a conversation about this, this is what we’re thinking, let us know if you’re open to it’.

“Typically, the first response is, ‘No’. But it promotes the discussion.”

Gallagher said the Saints would’ve only been interested in maintaining a pick in “the first six or seven” and adding another top-10 pick.

They are “fairly set” on their draft rankings and will present to coach Alan Richardson this week.

THE CONTENDERS FOR PICK NO.4

St Kilda list manager James Gallagher on three players believed to be in the mix for draft pick No.4.

CONNOR ROZEE (185cm midfielder, North Adelaide)

“We’ve had Connor really highly rated for the year. Even looking back he won the MVP at the Under-16 carnival two years ago playing as a midfielder, and our boys have watched him really closely since then.

“What you love about Connor is he is versatile. His primary trade as a junior has been as a midfielder but in senior football he’s played a lot as a medium forward and then late in the year through finals with North Adelaide he played as a defender.

“While not having a huge amount of possessions, his game in the SANFL grand final — in a really hot game in front of 40,000 people — he was really, really good. He executed everything he needed to.

“He’s got really clean hands, is very clever, he sees the game unfold really well and his speed is fantastic.

“He’s got excellent breakaway speed away from the stoppage, which is a really attractive feature for midfielders.”

Connor Rozee is in the mix for St Kilda at pick No.4. Picture: Calum Robertson

So is Bailey Smith. Picture: Getty

BAILEY SMITH (185cm midfielder, Sandringham Dragons)

“Bailey is he’s a genuine midfielder. He’s got the ability to play at halfback, which is great, but he’s a ball-winner.

“So he goes and gets it himself and he’s also got outstanding athletic ability, so he can go and get it on the outside as well. He uses it effectively too.

“You put those three things together and that’s the makings of a really good AFL midfielder. Plus there’s a drive in Bailey, so you think he’ll leave no stone unturned to be the best footballer he can be.”

MAX KING (202cm key forward, Sandringham Dragons)

“He couldn’t be more impressive with his attitude towards his (ACL) rehabilitation. Clearly his size is good, but anyone could be 204cm. It’s that coupled with athleticism.

“He moves a lot more nimbly and his ability to pick up the ball below his knees while running at speed as well is pretty exceptional for a player at that size.

“We haven’t seen many of those before in the AFL. Those two factors — and then his performances as well, he kicked 8.5 in the first TAC Cup game — indicates he can put it together.”

Originally published as St Kilda never seriously considered trading pick No.4 in the draft and could swoop on forward Max King