Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is set to slip no further than pick No.3 in next Wednesday night's national draft, with Sydney committing to bidding on the Western Bulldogs' academy prospect if he is still available at the Swans' first selection.
The Indigenous tall forward from Warrnambool, likened by experts to a young Lance Franklin, is arguably the best player in this year's draft pool and is bound for the Whitten Oval as a member of the Dogs' next generation academy.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan flies high.Credit: Getty
The only question is at which selection they will need to match a bid for the Scotch College boarder.
Rivals clubs are of the view that Adelaide – who hold pick No.1 in the draft – could bid on Ugle-Hagan, which would then bump their first selection back to No.2. West Australian key forward Logan McDonald, South Australian tall Riley Thilthorpe and Wodonga forward/midfielder Elijah Hollands are the three players widely viewed as in the mix to be taken first by Adelaide, whether or not they bid for Ugle-Hagan.
North Melbourne, who hold pick No.2, could also conceivably bid on Ugle-Hagan. However in any case, he will not slide any further than selection No.3. Sources familiar with the situation confirmed on Tuesday that the Swans – who have spoken publicly of their view that Ugle-Hagan is the best player in the pool – have communicated to the Bulldogs that they will bid on Ugle-Hagan if he is available at selection No.3.
Sydney would then select another player at pick No.4. West Australian tall backman Denver Grainger-Barrass has been strongly linked to the Swans' first selection. Hawthorn have the following pick, currently No.4 but set to be bumped back to No.5 because of the bid on Ugle-Hagan.
Sydney list and recruiting chief Kinnear Beatson told an official AFL podcast last month that Ugle-Hagan is "an exceptional talent and clearly No.1 in our eyes."
The Dogs on Tuesday completed a trade to gain more points to match an early bid for Ugle-Hagan. The Dogs sent pick 26 to Greater Western Sydney for the Giants' picks 29 and 52.
In a draft heavily compromised by academy players, clubs are learning more in recent days about the likelihood of when bids will come in for such players.
Collingwood's next generation academy tall midfielder/defender Reef McInnes is being regularly linked by industry sources to one of Essendon's trio of top 10 picks. The Pies would prefer a bid not come for McInnes until after Collingwood's second selection (currently No.16).
Rival clubs are also of the view that the Pies are interested in bidding on Brisbane Lions academy small forward Blake Coleman with one of Collingwood's two first-round selections (currently No.14 and No.16).
Coleman is blessed with pace and could help fill the void left by Jaidyn Stephenson, who was traded last month to North. Coleman is the younger brother of Keidean Coleman, who featured for Brisbane in this year's AFL finals.
Explosive Sydney academy member Braeden Campbell will fetch a first-round bid with some clubs of the view that he will fall no further than Adelaide's second selection, currently No.9.
Victorian draft prospects will gather for a training session at Craigieburn on Wednesday in which they will be guided by AFL academy coach Tarkyn Lockyer. Victorian players have been starved of the chance to play football this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
After a review of the contentious system, the AFL announced last month that from next year, bids on next generation academy players cannot be matched inside the top 20 of the draft. That will extend to the top 40 from 2022.