AFL Draft 2015: What clubs are saying ahead of the national draft
THE countdown to the AFL Draft in Adelaide is on, with dozens of new faces set to join clubs tonight. Here’s what clubs are saying as they prepare for one of the biggest days on the AFL calendar.
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THE countdown to the AFL Draft in Adelaide is on, with dozens of new faces set to join clubs tonight. Here’s what clubs are saying as they prepare for one of the biggest days on the AFL calendar.
TOP 30: SAM LANDSBERGER’S FINAL PHANTOM DRAFT
ADELAIDE
Draft picks: 9, 13
What the club is saying: “It’s best talent (at picks 9 and 13). We’ll run across the needs of the club as well but predominantly you tend to use your trade period for that.
“If there’s a close call (between players) we’d always love to go the local talent ... but the idea is the best talent — it’s a national competition and you take the best talent from around the nation.” - GM football, David Noble on the club’s website
BRISBANE LIONS
Draft picks: 2, 38, 39, 40, 41
What the club is saying:
Lions CEO Greg Swann says Brisbane is in “a good place” to secure both Academy products Ben Keays and Eric Hipwood.
“You are never sure when the bids for them will come but we have enough points up our sleeve to cover them being picked in the first round so we are pretty comfortable about where we are at,” Swann told the Courier Mail.
CARLTON
Draft picks: 1, 8, 11, 19, 58, 59
What the club is saying:
“We’re just ticking off the boxes and getting the final details done today.
“With four picks inside the top 20, we’re hoping to get a good variety of players.
“This is a significant day for Carlton in terms of our rebuild.” - list manager Stephen Silvagni
COLLINGWOOD
Draft picks: 27, 64, 71, 74, 75
What the club is saying: “We’re giving ourselves the scope to take up to five players but at this stage it’s most likely, given the depth, that we will only take the three.
“One thing about having a potentially weaker draft is that everyone will be seeing it different, which means there’ll be some really strong potential that players we may not have as high up or may not be needs for us may jump in ahead of us and that may push someone back to us that takes our fancy.
“Because of the perceived lack of depth we will most likely be going best player available.” - list boss Derek Hine on the club’s website
ESSENDON
Draft picks: 4, 5, 24, 25, 56, 73, 82
What the club is saying: “We’ve got a rough idea (what we’re going to do) but Melbourne’s not declaring their hand and rightly so, it’s a national draft and we’ve all got a couple of picks in that early area ... so there’s probably a little bit of cat and mouse.
“We know what we’re going to do and we’re very, very comfortable knowing that we’ll be picking up two very good players with those first two selections.
“At this stage we’ll have six (selections), possibly seven, so it’s a big haul but we haven’t been in the draft for a couple of years and we just felt it was a good year to regenerate our list a little bit.” - list and recruiting manager Adrian Dodoro on the club’s website on Tuesday.
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“We’ll set up this club for a really strong period for the next 12 years hopefully.
“Everyone is really excited about it ... It’s a great opportunity for the future of the footy club.
“There has to be a big focus on scoring more. It’d be nice to think and be able to reel off three or four or maybe five guys that you say ‘that’s our forward line and they’re going to kick winning scores.’” - coach John Worsfold
FREMANTLE
Draft picks: 22, 35, 60, 68, 80
What the club is saying: “We have a good balanced list at the club but we always want to develop it.
“We’d like to get some height through the door. We’d also like a good mix of players.” - General manager of player management Brad Lloyd on the club’s website.
GEELONG
Draft picks: 65, 76, 83
What the club is saying: “I don’t subscribe to the theory (it’s a weak draft).
“We’ll be trying to find guys that we think can have a good AFL career.
“I’m sure they’re out there and we’re working hard to try and find them.” - list boss Stephen Wellson the club’s website
GOLD COAST SUNS
Draft picks: 6, 16, 29, 55, 72
What the club is saying: “With pick six, you have the whole field to choose from bar five players so we are pretty comfortable about where we are placed and we’re excited about what the draft will bring.’
“It is a very even draft. The first 10 picks could come from 20 names, that’s how even it is.
“We like the look of it and think we will bring in some good talent.’’ - list boss Scott Clayton told the Courier Mail
GWS
Draft picks: 10, 34, 42, 52, 54, 57, 62, 63
What the club is saying: “Jacob Hopper and Matthew Kennedy are who people know a lot about — they’re top end talent who are certainly going to come through the draft.
“A couple of lesser known names (from the Academy) we’ll probably see on draft night hopefully at the Giants but at a club no matter what are Matthew Flynn ... and Harry Himmelberg.” - Giants Academy coach Jason Saddington on the club’s website
HAWTHORN
Draft picks: 15, 18, 47, 70
What the club is saying: “We haven’t deliberately shied away from the draft, but it is time for us to get a bit younger.
“The draft probably lacks a bit of depth and (pick) No. 15 and No. 18 will push out a little bit when the academy players come into it.” - list boss Graham Wright told the Herald Sun
MELBOURNE
Draft picks: 3, 7, 45, 49
What the club is saying: “Getting pick 3 guarantees that we’ll get the player we identify as being the best in that position.
“But who we pick really depends on who Essendon will be taking at Nos. 4 and 5, that’ll really dictate what we’re doing.
“At this stage A-grade players’ preference is other clubs, so we see our A-grade players coming from the draft.” - football boss Josh Mahoney told the Herald Sun
NORTH MELBOURNE
Draft picks: 17, 26, 28, 46, 67, 79
What the club is saying: “With our pick 17, it’s a first-round pick and we think being true to our order we’ll get a really good quality player.
“From there we’ll try and balance off a little needs ... if we can add some speed and run around the midfield and some players that can play multi-roles and have got some versatility will be what we are looking for.
“(And) potentially a key-forward, they’re not easy to find as well.” - football boss Cameron Joyce on the club’s website
PORT ADELAIDE
Draft picks: 32, 48, 77
What the club is saying: “(Pick 48) will likely come into something closer about 42 or 43 or so after the Academy players are chosen by Brisbane, Sydney and GWS. Two picks in the late second-round effectively, we think we’ll be able to get a couple of good players at that particular point.” - GM football Chris Davies on the club’s website
RICHMOND
Draft picks: 12, 51, 78, 84
What the club is saying: “I can’t remember a draft that’s been this difficult to predict this late in the piece. The multiple picks that Essendon have got in the first 10, Melbourne have a couple, Carlton have got three in the first 11 as well and the Academy bidding so clubs who have those multiple picks want to get the best of both worlds and how they can manipulate teams and picks to get the two guys they want rather than missing out on one so it’s been extremely difficult (to predict) this year that’s for sure.” - recruiting officer Matt Clarke on the club’s website
ST KILDA
Draft picks: 14, 44, 66
What the club is saying: “In our situation there’s no strategy. It’s ranking them 1-14 and if the worst-case scenario is player 14, well so be it.
“We can’t all have the same list and the same thoughts, let alone the same needs.
“Therefore something’s going to happen so that we get player 13 or player 12 on our board.
“Can we get player 11? Maybe. Can we get 10? Whoa, that’d be nice. Anything above that and we start clapping.” - chief recruiter Tony Elshaug told the Herald Sun
SYDNEY SWANS
Draft picks: 33, 36, 37, 43, 53
What the club is saying: “We will be running with a list of 38 players for 2016 so that will mean there will be three selections in the national draft.
“We’ll be very hopeful of securing our Academy player Callum Mills, we’re not sure yet who will bid and the implications from the new bidding system will determine where our following two selections will sit.
“We’re anticipating those picks will be about 50 onwards.” - recruiting manager Kinnear Beatson on the club’s website
WEST COAST
Draft picks: 23, 31, 61, 69, 81
What the club is saying: “We’re definitely always looking for some quality mids into the side. You can’t have enough quality mids, we’ll probably look at a bit of height as well.
“I think we’re getting to that stage where we’ve probably got to supplement the key position roles with some developing talls coming in.
“We’ve got Tom Barrass and obviously Jeremy McGovern but we’re going to have a look at that next level as well.” - GM football, Craig Vozzo on the club’s website
WESTERN BULLDOGS
Draft picks: 20, 21, 30, 50
What the club is saying: “We’re still very optimistic (about trading pick 11 to picks 20, 21), we’re happy to have those two selections. We think it’s a very even group and that we’re having two selections of that group, we’re very happy with that decision.” - recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple on the club’s website
— compiled by Kate Salemme and Chris Vernuccio
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