AFL National Draft 2024: What Sydney, GWS have planned for first-round picks

With five picks between them in the draft’s first round, Sydney and GWS Giants are set to have a big say. LACHLAN MCKIRDY finds out what they have planned.

The two NSW-based clubs are set to have the biggest say in the first round of the AFL Draft outside of Richmond, with five players likely heading to Sydney on Wednesday night.

The Giants hold three picks in the first round – 15, 16 and 21 – thanks to the compensation picks they received for losing Harry Perryman and Isaac Cumming . Across town, the Swans have picks 19 and 22.

The latter they received last season for the trade that saw Dylan Stephens head to North Melbourne.

Both clubs believe there is a reluctance from any clubs to entertain offers to move up the draft board on Wednesday night, meaning they intend to cash in on their strong hands.

“You need a club who is prepared to move back, which there’s no one out there saying they desperately want to move back,” Adrian Caruso, the Giants’ head of talent said.

“But where we landed in the end is to keep our picks and get three very good players rather than trying to trade two or three good players for one.”

Sydney’s head of list strategy Chris Keane said: “We’re happy with where we sit at the back part of the first round, having a couple of picks on night one.

“We think there’s a good bunch of talent there. So the likely play for us is just sit and wait and see what falls to us. And at this stage, we’re pretty comfortable with what that looks like.”

Sydney says it is comfortable with the depth of talent in the first round. Picture: Michael Klein.

Adrian Caruso says clubs are reluctant to split an early pick. Picture: Michael Klein

The sides head into the draft night in a relatively strong position.

While the Swans are coming off a grand final defeat, they’re confident in the squad they’ve built to get back to the MCG on the final weekend in September.

And although the Giants had a disappointing finals campaign, the depth of young talent on their list has them set up well for the future.

“The likely play is certainly for our first selection at 19, we’ll take what we deem is the best available on our board,” Keane said.

“There’s clearly some really good small and medium forwards, but also, there’s four or five key forwards and key position players in general, which has added to the depth of the draft.

“We feel like backing this group in and adding to that through the draft has always been a key strategy. That’s probably the reason why we weren’t overly active in the trade period this year compared to previous years.

“Richmond has seven picks on night one, and, to be honest, they sort of dictate where the draft goes to an extent. That plays a bit of a part in what might fall through and what might be available for us in that first pick.”

Caruso added: “We’re very confident in what we’ll be getting even with that third (first-round) pick.

“I feel like we’ve got enough names on the board that we’ll be happy with at that pick.

“But there’s also an understanding that if we did feel like we wanted to move it into next year or move it back, there’s hopefully going to be some options there for us.

“We’re very much best available. We don’t see any glaring list holes that we need to address. For us, it’s bringing in good talent that can support the game plan, those first two picks in particular.

“We know our list is always in transition mode in terms of the unknowns around some of the older guys and how long they’re going to hang on for. But we’re trying to plan for three or four years down the track.”

GWS academy prospect Logan Smith.

Swans academy prospect Joel Cochran.

The Giants are likely to bring in four players at the draft, but that could expand to five depending on who is available. The Swans will look at a similar number with several players overlapping on their draft boards.

Both teams will likely have one Academy prospect to consider in this draft. For GWS, ruckman Logan Smith has impressed all year and they’ll be looking to get him in the orange and charcoal. The Swans want to do the same with Joel Cochran who has come through their Academy.

“Logan has developed really well over the past 18 months and he’s someone we’re definitely interested in bringing in,” Caruso said.

“It depends on where the bid comes. At the moment, we get the sense the bid is probably sliding, and other clubs are going in other directions with their picks.

“Similar to a Harvey Thomas last year who slid to the back end of the draft and we called his name out, we feel like the same thing will probably happen with Logan this year.”

On Cochran, Keane added: “(Joel) clearly tested very strongly at the Combine and we know he’s a fantastic athlete.

“In terms of where we think a bid might come, look, we’re anticipating that a bid will come. We’re not sure where that is, though. All we can do is prepare for different scenarios in terms of the range he does get bid, and we’ll react accordingly.”

Originally published as AFL National Draft 2024: What Sydney, GWS have planned for first-round picks