AFL Draft 2024: Port Adelaide selects Joe Berry, Jack Whitlock, Christian Moraes
The unluckiest draft prospect on night one could be the steal of night two after Port Adelaide pounced on a possible replacement for Charlie Dixon.
Port Adelaide
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Port Adelaide has found a potential long-term Charlie Dixon successor and boosted its running brigade while landing two draft sliders.
The Power took 200cm Murray Bushrangers spearhead Jack Whitlock with its first pick (No.33) on night two at Marvel Stadium, before snaring Eastern Ranges midfielder/forward Christian Moraes five selections later.
Port strongly considered claiming Whitlock with its initial choice, No.15, a day earlier, only to prefer goalsneak Joe Berry, one of his Bushrangers teammates.
So the club was thrilled to be able to get him at its second pick.
“It’s all come together nicely for us,” Power national recruiting manager Geoff Parker told this masthead.
“I thought Jack would go last night.
“After he got through we met this afternoon and discussed what may play out for us and who we still really liked … and because we went the small last night, we thought we’d go the taller option first.
“It was a decision we made in the last week to go the small first and it got proved right because everyone was trying to move up and get Joe.”
Whitlock – the twin of North Melbourne’s No. 27 pick Matt Whitlock – kicked 25 goals from 12 games for the Bushrangers this year.
He showed his athleticism at the national combine, ranking fourth with his running vertical jump of 91cm.
With Tom Scully delisted after two seasons, the Power draftee could emerge as its young giant power forward to eventually replace the retired Dixon.
“That’s the plan long-term, but he’s obviously got a few in front of him at the moment,” said Parker of an attack that also boasted talls Todd Marshall, Jack Lukosius, Mitch Georgiades, Ollie Lord and Jeremy Finlayson.
“Jack really comes and launches at the ball, and takes the ball at its highest point.
“When you’re 200cm with long arms you’re hard to defend, but he’s pretty athletic for his size and covers the ground pretty well.”
Parker also did not expect Moraes to be available at 38, believing the Western Bulldogs would grab him with either pick 29 or 31.
The 183cm Vic Metro representative was highly regarded for his running ability and composure with the ball.
“He’s a very good athlete, he can play multiple roles, his midfield craft is very good, he’s got good hands, good spatial awareness and has the smarts to play forward,” Parker said.
Port Adelaide’s pair of night-two picks left it with two selections in Friday’s rookie draft.
Next Generation Academy small forward/midfielder Benny Barrett secured a category B rookie spot after other teams overlooked him on Thursday night.
Port was not going to match another club’s bid so was glad to be able to rookie-list the lightning quick South Adelaide player of Papua New Guinean heritage.
HOW PORT GREAT HELPED DRAFT FIRST-ROUND PICK
Robbie Gray has helped Port Adelaide recruit a player who models his game on the Power champion.
The club selected Murray Bushrangers small forward Joe Berry at pick 15 in the national draft at Marvel Stadium on Wednesday night.
Gray was part of the Port recruiting team that drove from Melbourne to visit the goalsneak in Benalla in mid-August.
Asked then by the Power who he modelled his game on, Berry named four-time All-Australian Gray.
Berry himself was an All-Australian this year – at under-18 level – after impressing at the national championships, averaging 2.3 goals.
Port Adelaide national recruiting manager Geoff Parker told this masthead the 181cm youngster did some things similarly to Gray.
“The stuff he does inside 50 one-on-one is a little bit like Robbie but it’s hard to compare anyone to Robbie because he was such a great player,” Parker said.
“Joe will be his own player but he’s very skilful like Robbie was and got an idea to protect his space like Robbie could.
“When we interviewed him, he really gravitated towards Robbie and was asking for a lot of feedback from Robbie.
“It helped us make up our mind that he might actually be the one we actually want to pick.
“It showed he understood there’s a good player sitting in front of him, he was thinking about getting some information to make him a better player.”
The Power traded picks 16 and 45 to West Coast to move up one spot to make sure it got Berry.
Fremantle, which was at No. 17, was understood to be interested in him and was looking to deal with the Eagles.
The Dockers were believed to have made a slightly better offer than Port, which was unlikely to use 45, but West Coast opted not to trade with its local rival.
Parker thought Berry was the best performing small half-forward in 2024.
“It probably wasn’t an urgent need, but we’ve got a few tall forwards – and there were one or two we did talk about until we decided to go a bit smaller – but the way the draft’s gone is probably an indication of the way the AFL game’s gone the last couple of years,” he said.
“Joe’s really well balanced, covers the ground really easily, can change gears easily and has got some real good IQ on when to come up to the contest or when to sit back.”
a big night for Joe 📠pic.twitter.com/H9EvKqLz9v
— Port Adelaide FC (@PAFC) November 20, 2024
Berry will be part of a refreshed Power forward line next year.
Long-time spearhead Charlie Dixon and goalsneaks Quinton Narkle and Francis Evans are gone, while Jack Lukosius (Gold Coast) and Joe Richards (Collingwood) have arrived from other clubs.
The Power draftee trained with Richards, a fellow Wangaratta product, last pre-season.
Former Port Adelaide captain Matthew Primus presented Berry with his Power guernsey.
Originally published as AFL Draft 2024: Port Adelaide selects Joe Berry, Jack Whitlock, Christian Moraes
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