Hawthorn is comfortable with its late draft picks as it eyes undiscovered talents

HAWTHORN will wait at the back of the queue in Friday’s draft hoping a player it rates in the 40s will slip through to its first selection at pick No.81.

Hawthorn list manager Graham Wright faces the media. Picture: Michael Klein

HAWTHORN will wait at the back of the queue in Friday night’s draft hoping a player it rates in the 40s will slip through to its first selection at pick No.81.

And the club will also strongly consider re-listing big man Jack Fitzpatrick possibly with a rookie pick as part of its list overhaul.

Premiership list chief Graham Wright said the club was excited about its prospects next season after picking up new recruits Jaeger O’Meara, Tom Mitchell and Ty Vickery in the trade period.

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Wright, who heads a team of 16 recruiting staff which helped build one of the greatest teams of the modern era, said the Hawks had done extensive work on the top prospects in case its trade plans fell through, but had spent the past month focusing on the back-end prospects likely to be still on the shelf around their late picks.

He said the Hawks would likely look to take a mix of players with its two selections at No.81 and No.83 after finalising its order on Thursday in Sydney.

“You rule out 20 or 30 (players) straight away because you know you are not going to get them, but we are hoping someone we rank in about the 40s in our order is the player we get,” Wright told the Herald Sun.

Jaeger O’Meara tries on his new colours.

Ty Vickery swapped black and yellow for yellow and brown. Picture: Colleen Petch

“And it generally happens because the draft order jumps around from about No.25 onwards, depending on how the clubs rate the players, because everyone sees it pretty differently.

“We think we have a reasonable list of players and we know we haven’t got a high pick.

“But that’s the situation or the reality we put ourselves in and we are pretty comfortable with that.

“When we see Jaeger and Tom running around on the ground training that will soothe that.

“We are hopeful we are able to get something reasonable (tonight), but we know it will be a real wait.”

Former Sun O’Meara is progressing well in his comeback from patella tendon injuries and has recently begun running on an AlterG anti-gravity treadmill at Waverley.

Clubs have been buoyant about the depth in this year’s draft but Wright was less certain about the overall strength of this year’s offering.

“I’m not as convinced as everyone else that it is a really, really deep draft, but the beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” he said.

Hawthorn list manager Graham Wright faces the media. Picture: Michael Klein

“I think that group between picks No. 25 and No.60 anything could happen.

“The guys we rate at No.25 another club could rate at No.50 and so on and so on.”

Wright said despite the late picks, Hawthorn’s recruiting team, including lead recruiting gurus Mark McKenzie and Geoff Morris, had probably poured in even more hours than normal to assess the players likely to be available late in the order.

“You don’t do any less work, I think you do more in a lot of ways (with late picks),” he said.

“A lot of the guys we were considering among 30 best players, we have watched them a hell of a lot this year and now we haven’t got any chance of getting them, even though you are never quite sure the trades in trade period will get done.

“So you prepare like you would every year, and that made us go back and do a lot more work on vision (after the trade period), because the players have finished playing by then.

“We feel probably a little bit less anxious (than normal) because our picks are a bit later, but no less work goes into it. You end up doing more work.

“The trade period is more stressful (than the draft), because that is the part of the year you can’t control.

“You can only control your order and then what you get on the night, you are thinking about the players that are left at your pick, so there’s nothing you can do about.

“In trade period you have got to try and get a deal done.”

Originally published as Hawthorn is comfortable with its late draft picks as it eyes undiscovered talents