AFL Draft 2020: Crows recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie discusses Adelaide’s draft plans, talent order

Will the Crows look to improve their hand further on draft night? Or trade with an eye on 2021? Adelaide recruiting boss Hamish Ogilvie explains what could happen.

Riley Thilthorpe is considered to be in the mix to be taken with pick one by the Crows. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

Adelaide is set to finalise its draft talent order, including who it will pick first, after a meeting between its recruiting team and list management committee.

Crows recruiting boss Hamish Ogilvie reiterated on Friday that there were four contenders to be taken at No. 1, confirming Western Bulldogs academy prospect Jamarra Ugle-Hagan was among them, but he would not reveal the other three, and said the player chosen was unlikely to find out until his name was called on December 9.

Adelaide has never selected earlier than sixth at a national draft and is expected to either bid for Ugle-Hagan or take West Adelaide forward/ruck Riley Thilthorpe, Perth spearhead Logan McDonald or Murray Bushrangers’ midfielder/forward Elijah Hollands.

Ogilvie said the club would determine who it would pick and the players it was eyeing with its other choices once the recruiting department met on Friday with coach Matthew Nicks, football director Mark Ricciuto, footy manager Adam Kelly and chief executive Andrew Fagan to detail strengths, weaknesses and family history, and show footage, in a discussion likely to last two-and-a-half hours.

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Adelaide’s recruiting team at last year’s draft in Melbourne. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos

“We’ll present the four players at pick one to the list management committee … and then we’ll move through the rest of the draft,” Ogilvie said.

“We’re going to outline our plan and the work we’ve done over the last year or two years.

“The doctors have finished compiling all the medical information but we just didn’t want to make a final decision until we had that information in case there was an issue.

“There’s not much splitting them and I’ve got my opinions and thoughts, but we work it out as a group.”

Two of the quartet have had injury concerns this year – Hollands is recovering from rupturing his ACL in February and Thilthorpe has battled groin issues.

But Ogilvie said medical information very rarely led to players being ruled out.

“It’s as much about what they’re going to need from a training and physical performance view when they get there as well,” he said.

Will the Crows bid on Western Bulldogs Next Generation Academy prospect? Picture: Michael Klein

Ogilvie said his recruiting team was not feeling any extra pressure with the early call.

“There’s people that’s been under a lot more pressure than us this year given what they’ve gone through – that’s real life pressure,” he said.

“It’s a big pick, it’s important … but the game doesn’t know what pick you are.

“Every draft pick is important, whether it’s pick 50 or pick five.”

Ogilvie said the club would take the best player available at choices one and nine, then look at list needs with its next selections, presently 22, 23, and possibly 40, if it used that.

“Clearly if it’s close (between two players) … we’ll go the local,” he said.

“But some boys have got families in South Australia … some guys are just ready for the adventure, it doesn’t matter where they come from.

“There’s a whole heap of factors that come in.”

Ogilvie expected there to be between 45 and 55 picks in the main draft.

In a wide-ranging draft chat, Ogilvie also spoke about …

Trading pick one

“The odds of that moving are less likely but you never want to say never in case a great deal comes up. The other picks are certainly great picks but there is some chance they can still move.”

Bidding on Ugle-Hagan

“It’s a serious consideration. We’ll have those discussions and stay pretty true to our talent order, as we’ve always said. We’ll treat players on their merits as if they’re all in the open draft. History shows we’ve been prepared to bid on players we like.”

Clubs bidding on Tariek Newchurch and James Borlase

“They’re really clear on where we sit. We’ve had great discussions with them, their parents and their management. I can’t comment on what the other teams are going to do.”

Crows NGA prospect James Borlase has been given no guarantees by the club. Picture: Sarah Reed

List needs

“Yeah. we’d love to add more speed through the group. But there’s a good mix of players in the top 20, top 25, where we’re going to pick. We need lots of different types and great characters to come in.”

Crows’ 2021 draft hand

“There looks to be some good South Australians next year and we’ve tried to position in next year’s draft, and we might still do some more of that on draft night. Yeah, we like it but there’s great players in every draft.”

Bidding on Port Adelaide academy prospect Lachie Jones

“He’s certainly high up in our talent order and we rate him highly … so Port will be very pleased to get a player of that quality. I doubt we’d do it at pick nine … but I think he’d fall somewhere between nine and 15, 16.”

COVID’s impact on scouting

“On a footy day on a Saturday in South Australia and Western Australia we were actually watching more games live because of the quality of the vision coming through. I love going to the footy, sitting on a wing and tracking a player, but we had to do it from vision. The main Victorian boys we were considering, some were the best player at 12 and 16, and still at 18, so the body of work was already significant.”

Originally published as AFL Draft 2020: Crows recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie discusses Adelaide’s draft plans, talent order