TAC Cup: Draft prospects to return to Calder Cannons as 19-year-old players this year

THREE players who were considered draft prospects last year will return to TAC Cup club Calder Cannons this year.

Mitch Podhajski (right) will return to Calder this year to play in the TAC Cup. Picture: Ian Currie.

THREE players who were considered draft prospects last season will return to TAC Cup club Calder Cannons this year.

Mitch Podhajski, Dylan Landt and Jake Riccardi were on the radar of AFL clubs before last year’s national and rookie drafts, but were overlooked.

Podhajski, an Aberfeldie and Greenvale junior, tested at the national combine, while Landt was invited to the state combine.

Riccardi was a bolter in the weeks before the draft after impressing for St Bernard’s in the Herald Sun Shield final.

The trio have been invited back to Calder as 19-year-olds, with Podhajski and Riccardi’s development to be reassessed in May before potentially joining VFL clubs.

Emerging tall Daniel Hanna, who played alongside Riccardi in St Bernard’s Herald Sun Shield triumph, will also feature in the TAC Cup again.

Podhajski played 15 matches for Calder last season, enjoying a breakout game when he switched from defence to attack against Gippsland Power and kicked six goals in Round 7.

Riccardi, a key-position utility, booted seven goals in 16 games in 2017, while Hanna managed six goals in 13 matches switching between attack and defence.

Landt, a pacy wingman from Sunbury, has played 21 TAC Cup matches in the past two seasons.

Calder has two potential father-son selections this year, Mason Fletcher (Essendon) and Rhylee West (Western Bulldogs), while AFL academy pair Curtis Taylor and Jack Bytel are considered top draft hopefuls.

About 80 players have been training with the Cannons in the hope of winning a spot in new coach Ross Smith’s squad for 2018.

Calder plays its first practice match against Bendigo Pioneers on February 11 and will take on Eastern Ranges, Northern Knights and Murray Bushrangers before its season opener against Western Jets on March 24.