Draft summary
"We had a slant towards talls, but we would've taken the best available. We just thought that the players we picked were pretty much the best available at those particular picks.
"Troy Davis has got a body that could quickly step up to playing in the AFL and so has Tom McDonald, so while the talls can quite often take a longer period of time, these guys - at least three of them - we'd expect to step up quickly.
"We acknowledged that tall forwards were an area that we needed to bolster in our list, but we were able to get what we were after at the opportunities that presented. Like every club…we're very happy."
Selection No.12: Lucas Cook (North Ballarat)
Player profile
"He's the sort of player who you want the ball in his hands. Lucas is not dissimilar to Jack Watts ... we view him in a very similar vein. Lucas will have to put on some size and that'll take a bit of time. He played a (VFL) game for the North Ballarat Rebels against Frankston early in the year and played extremely well.
"To get an All Australian centre half-forward in Lucas Cook, who has a really big engine ... we saw him as one of the elite kicking and decision makers in the draft."
Selection No.33: Jeremy Howe (Dodges Ferry/Hobart)
"Jeremy jumped up and was a bit of smokey, I suppose. He was involved in the Devils program a couple of years ago and also the Mariners, but he came up the highway to play at his local club this year. He went forward in the last six weeks and he's pretty exciting. He can jump on some heads and take some hangers. You can never have too many of them in your forward line…it might be a good jump off between him and Liam Jurrah.
"He kicks goals; has clean hands and is a really good pick. We thought his talent package was quite outstanding and while he's been involved in some elite programs, he's been an apprentice electrician for the last three years. He's a 20-year-old, has a mature head on his shoulders and has played against men. There's no reason why he can't step up to the mark very quickly."
Selection No.50: Troy Davis (Geelong Falcons)
Player profile
"He's a key back. We've got some good key backs, but we thought we needed to bring another one of them through. I was captain/coach of Kerang, so it was nice to be able to call the Kerang footy club name out.
"He's a 20-year-old and has quite a mature body. He played on Matthew Watson in the finals of the TAC Cup and played particularly well that day. He had a couple of other good performances, but that was probably when we were able to really drill down on him. He also tested well in his leg speed and is deceptively quick. In terms of a big-bodied, developing player he fit the bill."
Selection No.53: Tom McDonald (North Ballarat)
Player profile
"He's a versatile tall that can play forward. He has a basketball background. All the talls have really good endurance, so with a three-man interchange bench and the fact that we have four talls that have 14.0-plus beep tests to go along with Jack Trengove, Tom Scully, Jack Grimes and Cale Morton ... we think they provide really good run and if they step up to the mark they'll take pressure off the rotations.
"We thought Tom could develop as a tall marking forward as well and we acknowledged that was an area that we needed to bolster in our list, but we were able to get what we were after at the opportunities that presented."
