DESPITE Melbourne enduring a remarkably difficult season as club, first year national recruiting manager Jason Taylor says he’s relished his inaugural season with the Demons.
The former Collingwood recruiter joined Melbourne in January this year, after becoming an experienced AFL recruiter.
Taylor, who was right-hand man to the highly respected recruiter Derek Hine at Collingwood, said the fact that Melbourne had put together a strong recruiting team, including full-timers Todd Viney, Kelly O’Donnell, Gary Burleigh, Tim Lamb and Darren Farrugia, had made his first season with the club an exciting one from a recruiting perspective.
“Nothing’s too much for them – the guys are always willing to work hard, and we work well together,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“We get on well and we communicate, which is critical in what we do. We’re all on the same page, so it’s been really enjoyable from that aspect,” he said.
“On a personal level, I’ve got my head down and am just focused on the job ahead and navigating through the year to try and find the best available talent in the national draft.”
Taylor said the work that he and his team put into identifying the next Demons was “incredible”.
“It involves an enormous amount of travel to view live games throughout the country. Then you’re reporting on players, who are assessed over those games, over the weekend.
“Throughout the week, we simply review the weekend’s assessments to assist us with planning ahead to the following week.
Taylor said there was some genuine talent on offer this year, but he added that the scrutiny of the recruiting industry – on the talent identifiers and the players – was simply greater.
“There is a level of expectation that’s probably thrust upon draft picks – not just from the media, but the public interest is growing each year. That puts a level of expectation on the player, which can be a bit hasty,” he said.
“If you look back on history and some of the champions of the game, their first 30 to 70 games – there wasn’t that expectation on them, even some of the elite players. If anything, that expectation needs to be doused a little bit.
“That might be harder on the athletes coming in, and you might not always see peak performance. We have to pick people who will prosper through a range of their personalities.”
Taylor said there was a pool of around 160 players Melbourne had monitored this year, which included watching matches live, plus “a helluva lot of vision during the week”.
“It’s pretty much non-stop and you could work 24/7 for what you need to be covering, but it’s important that you work as a team, delegate and support each other. It’s intense mental work, because you take in a lot of information,” he said.
“From there, we go through the interview process, where we interview the players, and that’s ongoing from the start to middle and latter part of the year.
“There are heavier periods, but we need to make sure we research behind the scenes as well. It’s not just about viewing the player.”
Taylor said there is an “enormous amount of work” that goes into selecting a player, and he works closely with Viney and Josh Mahoney in list management areas, plus pro scout O’Donnell.
“We need to pick the right player to prosper at AFL level, because it is really demanding and getting more demanding every year. The key element of that is being prepared and not to make decisions on a whim,” he said.
