Adelaide Crows ready to cash in on talent filled national draft

PREMIERSHIP coach Bec Goddard has seen an explosion in female football talent over the past year and expects to invest heavily in today’s second AFLW draft in Melbourne.

Jasmyn Hewett and Jessica Allan take part in the Yo-Yo run during the AFLW Draft Combine at Etihad Stadium. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images

PREMIERSHIP coach Bec Goddard has seen an explosion in female football talent over the past year and expects to invest heavily in today’s second AFLW draft in Melbourne.

The Adelaide coach expects to use as many as six of the Crows’ seven available picks in the draft — coming in at 8, 16, 24, 32, 38, 42 and 46 — but may save one or two spots for free agent players who were overlooked.

The club has a total of nine spots to fill, having already signed 21, and will have room for two rookies or players from other sports at the end of today’s draft call.

Goddard and the Crows’ recruiting staff have spent the off-season scouring both the South Australian local winter competition and its counterparts around Australia to get a handle on the best talent available.

But unlike the men’s draft, AFLW players can only be picked up by their preferred state, meaning the new Crows’ players are most likely to come from SA and the Northern Territory.

The exception could be a free agent after the draft the way Victorian Sarah Perkins found her way to West Lakes last year.

Goddard said there was still an abundant amount of talent available.

“We’ll go pretty close to using all selections,” Goddard said. “But I think it’s really important to give yourself a little bit of wiggle room because you never know when the next Sarah Perkins might fall out of the tree.

“So we might leave a spot open just in case.

“The talent is unbelievably better. A lot of athletes from other sports have started playing in the SAWFL and the competition certainly improved.

“As a consequence everybody else has got better.’’

Clubs have also become more sophisticated ahead of the second draft.

Last year, it was unknown what type of players would emerge as suitable to the 16-a-side competition.

The picture has become clearer after the first season and recruiters could also watch the first national talent combine, where some of the most sought-after players went through rigorous physical testing.

Among the frontrunners to be picked up for South Australia are Jess Allan, the sister of premiership player Sarah, Eloise Jones and the NT’s Jasmyn Hewett.

All three featured prominently at the combine, with Hewett testing in the top 10 in all of the tests.

Allan said it had still been a nervous wait leading up to the draft.

“You just got to hope that everything you’ve done in the lead-up is enough to get you over the line,” Allan said.

“The club hasn’t been allowed to say anything, really

“I’m obviously pretty close to the other girls from SA and we’re all pretty nervous about it all.”

Originally published as Adelaide Crows ready to cash in on talent filled national draft