FOR THE FIRST time since 2015, Melbourne will feature in the first round of the National Draft.
And not just once.
The Demons enter the draft with picks No.3, 10 and 28 to their name, looking to land some exciting young talent ahead of the 2020 season.
“Clearly the circumstances to be selecting so early aren’t great, but the fact that we’re here now doing it and have moved on, it is a pretty exciting opportunity for the club with a lot of responsibility attached to it,” National Recruiting Manager Jason Taylor told Melbourne Media.
“These players are projected to be very good players and I think the groups we’re looking at have a really high ceiling.
“You’d expect that the early selections would go on to play some really significant AFL footy.”
Melbourne’s strong hand comes on the back of a busy Trade Period – one the club believes was a major success.
“We don’t expect to be where we finished this year again next year, so we’re quite bullish internally … and we think an opportunity is there now to get into this year’s draft and get going,” Taylor said.
“Further to that, about 30 percent of the top 30 in next year’s draft are attached to other clubs through the academies and father-sons, so it’s quite compromised, so that played a part in our thinking as well.”
Over the course of the year, Taylor has kept a close eye on a number of young footballers across the country, and he’s confident the red and blue can land some future stars of the game this week.
“A lot of work has gone into this year and it’s been quite unique,” he said.
“We’ve known from a little way out, with the way the year was rolling out, that we’d have an early selection, so I was able to put a fair bit of work into individual players.
“I suppose there’s an attachment there with all the work that has gone into it and I know how hard the team works to get to this point.
“I’m excited, I’m looking forward to getting in there tomorrow and getting it done and then have a bit of a break and seeing how it all plays out.”
The first round of the draft will be called out on Wednesday night at Marvel Stadium, before the remaining selections are made the following evening.
