Tarryn Thomas and Chayce Jones picked up in draft top 10

UPDATED: Two years after not having a single player selected in the national AFL draft, Tasmania is celebrating its first multiple top 10 picks in more than two decades.

Tarryn Thomas, right, was taken by North Melbourne at pick eight. Picture: AAP/James Ross

TWO years after sinking to a historic low when not a single player was selected in the national AFL draft, Tasmania is celebrating its first multiple top 10 picks in more than two decades.

The pain of the 2016 draft was erased in emphatic fashion on Thursday night when northern pair Tarryn Thomas and Chayce Jones landed at North Melbourne and Adelaide respectively.

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North Launceston premiership hero Thomas was always going to end up at the Roos as the club’s first Next Generation Academy selection, with North forced to match Adelaide’s No. 8 bid to secure the excitement machine.

The Crows wasted little time in plucking the state’s other hot property, with under-18 captain and Launceston midfielder Jones going immediately after at nine.

It is the first time Tasmania has had two top 10 picks since 1996 – when Daniel McAlister went to Essendon with pick five, Geelong used pick eight on Leigh Brockman and Mark Harwood (Port Adelaide) was the ninth selection – and just the fourth ever since the draft was introduced in 1986.

Kade Kolodjashnij, who was traded to Melbourne last month, was the state’s last top 10 pick when he landed at the Gold Coast at five in 2013.

Chayce Jones, right, said getting picked at number nine was “a bit surreal”. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty

Adding to the achievement is the fact this year’s draft has been widely considered the best, both in top level talent and depth, since the 2001 “Super Draft” which saw Luke Hodge, Luke Ball and Chris Judd go top three and the likes of Jimmy Bartel (eight), Nick dal Santo (13), Steve Johnson (24), Sam Mitchell (36), Gary Ablett (40), Dane Swan (58) and Brian Lake (71) taken.

“Still a bit surreal it has all happened… I am so proud just to be selected and the club welcome me,” said Jones, who had been pegged to land at Port Adelaide in a number of phantom drafts.

“They showed interest at the Combine and that sort of thing but I didn’t have any idea until the night.”

AFL Tasmania southern talent manager Mathew Armstrong couldn’t hide his delight as he watched proceedings unfold.

“That shows you how good they are, you don’t get taken in the top 10 if you can’t play,” he said.

“You have got to be exceptionally good, in all areas, not only on field but off field. You have to have fantastic character and all those things to be taken top 10 and both those boys have.”

The 2018 draft continues on Friday, with Clarence’s Fraser Turner expected to join his state underage teammates while Nick Baker, Matthew McGuinness and Rhyan Mansell and former North Launceston premiership star Jay Lockhart are all chances of having their names called.