AFL draft 2021: South Australian national draft news and features; Crows reveal key target areas
Adelaide’s national recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie has revealed what the club is chasing in this week’s draft. So does that mean Josh Rachele will be going to West Lakes?
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Adelaide national recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie says the Crows have locked in their targets for Wednesday’s national draft.
Saying the Crows will target speed and power, especially to add to the midfield, Ogilvie did hint that Josh Rachele — who has been in constant conversations with key Adelaide figures — does possess that.
But he says the club has developed contingencies just in case an unlikely curveball presents itself come draft time.
Ogilvie and the Crows recruiting team have presented Adelaide’s coaches and key football staff with who they are hoping to select at pick 4, most likely pick 6 after father-son bids come in.
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Ogilvie said while it was unexpected, the Crows did have some contingency plans just in case there was an opportunity to trade up or even down.
“We’ve got some strategy off to the side if, and I think it’s a big if, if we may trade up or down,” he said.
“It’s not like the old days where we used to line them up and tick them off.
“You can’t get too locked into a target in case something changes. You have to be flexible, there could be a move up or down or a big move out to accumulate some picks in the future.
“We have done a lot of trading in the past but I suspect we won’t do as much as we’ve had because we don’t have as much stock this year given we have brought (Jordan) Dawson in, we have also brought in (Nick) Murray and (Patrick) Parnell as well this year.”
The Crows did try and get North Melbourne to part with pick 1 to snare South Australian Jason Horne-Francis, but the Kangaroos rejected their offer.
Ogilvie said the Crows had some interest in GWS’ No. 2 pick, but there was nothing advanced.
“We’ve had some discussions about that but nothing has been locked in, nobody wants to do anything until the night,” he said.
“There was very minimal talk in the pick trade period regarding movement.
“We are covered in case something happens on the night... we’ve had some discussions with other clubs.”
A move up there would allow the Crows to take Sandringham’s Finn Callaghan, likened to Marcus Bontempelli.
But Adelaide has been in regular contact with Murray Bushrangers excitement machine Rachele, with the 180cm forward/midfielder saying he is keen to go to the Crows with their first pick.
Ogilvie said the Crows were hoping for some speed and power through the midfield and on the outside of the midfield with their first pick.
“Josh like those other players at the top of the draft like Wanganeen (Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera), Horne-Francis and Callaghan, are very talented,” he said.
“He clearly has some speed and power… but I can’t get too locked in to one player just in case it doesn’t happen.”
Ogilvie also said the Crows were prepared to bid on Collingwood father-son prospect Nick Daicos, after making the Western Bulldogs pay up for Jamarra Ugle-Hagan last year.
“If we bid on Nick it’s because we rate him highly and would like him at the Adelaide Footy Club,” he said.
“I’m sure they will match but if it gets to that we are prepared to.”
The Crows second pick is currently at 33 and Ogilvie said he was confident they could also find a midfield with speed and power at that selection.
“I think this is not a bad draft for players of that type,” he said.
“We have addressed the talls over the last couple of years so I think we are OK in that area.”
Adelaide could make three, or even four picks at the draft, with the ability to promote Ben Keays and Jordon Butts off the rookie list to free up a spot.
Hype’s right: Moment SA young gun won over Modra
It was at a milk factory in dairy country, 60km from Adelaide, that one of South Australia’s most popular ever footballers was introduced to the state’s likely first No. 1 draft pick in 15 years.
Tony Modra met Jason Horne-Francis when they appeared together on a podcast previewing the Great Southern Football League grand final at the headquarters of competition sponsor Fleurieu Milk in September.
The Crows great works in a corporate role with the dairy company through Little Heroes Foundation and the South Adelaide prodigy has been a delivery truck loader for it four days a week this year.
A week after their encounter, Horne-Francis made another impression on Modra.
The 1997 Coleman medallist was tuning into the Panthers’ SANFL preliminary final to watch co-worker and ex-teammate Clay Sampson’s son, Hayden, then spotted a familiar face.
“I was watching Clay’s lad … and then I looked and thought ‘that must be the kid I met at the factory’,” Modra tells News Corp.
“I haven’t watched too much local footy this year, but I watched that final.
“I only had to watch him once to think ‘he’s going to go all right’.
“I haven’t seen a young player around like that for a while, that’s for sure.”
There has been hype for more than 12 months around Horne-Francis, who on Wednesday will almost certainly land at North Melbourne with the top pick in the national draft, making him SA’s first top call since Bryce Gibbs to Carlton in 2006.
But that Friday night two months ago stands out as the 18-year-old’s statement game.
Desperate to try to get the Panthers into their first grand final since 1979, the midfielder/half-forward kept them in the contest with a three-goal, 24-disposal, best-on-ground performance in the 28-point loss to Glenelg.
“Everyone’s been going about him ever since and you can tell why,” Modra says.
“He’s just got that natural ability, hasn’t he?
“His second and third efforts — he knows where the ball is — and he can read the play.
“He’s going to be really special.”
Along with eye-catching football talent and the Fleurieu Milk link, Modra and Horne-Francis have something else in common — both are products of Christies Beach Saints.
One of Horne-Francis’s last games for the Southern Football League club, where Nigel Smart, Dean Brogan and Nikki Gore were also juniors, was an under-15 grand final in 2018.
He kicked three goals and finished best afield in a losing side — Christies fell by 10 points to Flagstaff Hill — to claim the RW Oliver Medal.
The gritty showing was reminiscent of his preliminary final for the Panthers.
“That particular year we didn’t have access to him much through the season because he was playing under-16s then under-18s at SANFL level, but he came back for the finals,” his former Saints coach, Richard Schirmer, says.
“He brought back such a level of professionalism and brought players up with him.
“They (Flagstaff Hill) put a fair bit of work into him, even though it was under-15s — they tagged and rotated players against him.
“It was disappointing to lose but it was an amazing finals series he put in.”
Schirmer says Horne-Francis is one of the most polite young people you can meet.
He also happens to refuse being beaten in a contest, according to Schirmer.
“Jason’s a pretty unassuming young fella off the field but when he gets on it something clicks,” he says.
“Even vocally and leadership wise, and there’s a little bit of swagger about him.
“It’s almost like the Superman thing — one persona off the field, one persona on it.”
Schirmer says it has been awesome to see Horne come through the ranks.
“That final (for South), that reminded me exactly like those couple of (Christies Beach) finals,” he says.
“I sat back and went ‘oh my goodness, he’s doing that at this level now’.
“I think he can do some damage early on at AFL level because he’ll bring that same sort of competitive streak.”
Long-time family friend and former Christies Beach football operations manager Barry Head recalls Horne-Francis being a class above in his time at the Saints.
“There wasn’t a kid that could touch him,” Head says.
“We built the team around that lad.”
Head also remembers Horne-Francis telling him a couple of years ago “I want that number one spot” in the draft.
“I looked at him and said ‘it’s a lot of hard work’ and he just said ‘yeah, I know’,” Head says.
“He wanted to be the number-one draft pick, he busted his backside and got to where he wanted to be. He’s stepping up every single week.”
Head, the uncle of cricketer Travis Head, says Horne-Francis shares similar traits with the Australian and Redbacks batsman.
“They’re absolutely determined, confident but not cocky,” he says.
Head has known Horne-Francis since the Panthers star was about eight or nine, when the SA under-19 captain arrived at Christies Beach.
He struck up a friendship with Horne-Francis’s stepdad, ex-Port Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne wingman Fabian Francis, who previously coached juniors and seniors at the Saints.
This year the South Adelaide youngster added Francis to his surname in recognition of his stepdad’s huge role in his life, along with his mum, Trish.
Head is close enough to the family that Horne-Francis calls him uncle Baz or uncle Barry.
“You see him around his Christies Beach mates and you wouldn’t think he’s the potential number-one pick in this year’s draft,” Head says.
“He’s just a down-to-earth genuine young man who doesn’t say a bad word about anyone.”
South Adelaide talent manager Mark Clayton says Horne-Francis’s character has stood out as much, if not more, than his disposal, decision-making, athleticism and will to win.
“He was a good person from the start that had really good values,” Clayton says.
“He’s quiet, reserved, likes spending time with his friends, very respectful, always comes in and says hello.
“He wanted to be here all the time and around his mates at the footy club all the time.
“He always had a football in his hand, carrying around a football, kicking a football.”
Clayton had heard about Horne-Francis’s potential from people within the club before he had coached him.
The Fremantle supporter went on to play state under-16s in his bottom age year.
In 2020, the club promoted him from under-18s to the Panthers’ league side in 2020 as a 17-year-old, skipping the reserves.
“He’s strong, competitive, I thought he could compete against men,” Clayton says.
“His prelim final was very good but I thought he could get to that level and I think he can go past that level.”
North Melbourne has rejected offers from rival clubs for the No. 1 pick in Wednesday’s first night of the draft with eyes firmly focused on Horne-Francis.
Last month he conceded it had been difficult not to envisage himself as a Kangaroos player.
North Melbourne has never had the top selection and the 184cm, 78kg talent has the hallmarks of someone who can become its biggest drawcard since superstar Wayne Carey.
“I think he’s going to be impressive in the next couple of years and is ready to play at the next level,” Clayton, a former teammate of Francis’s with Port Adelaide Magpies, says.
“It’s exciting for Christies Beach and South Adelaide, and we hope he does go number one.
“We hope that he lives up to everything.
“He’s respectful, hardworking and honest, and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t because he’s talented enough.”
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