National Recruiting Manager Hamish Ogilvie says the Crows addressed a need and added talent in the Rookie Draft on Friday.

Adelaide selected Redland tall Paul Hunter and West Adelaide premiership player Jono Beech with its two ‘live’ rookie selections.

Hunter, 22, is a 200cm, 96kg, ruckman with excellent athleticism and a competitive streak. In 2014, he won the NEAFL Rising Star award, as well as his club’s best and fairest award.

Hunter’s vertical jump scores at the state combine screening last month were ranked top six across Australia. He also ran a 14.9 beep test and posted a time of 3.04 seconds in the 20-metre sprint.

Ogilvie said the mature-age ruckman would provide additional support for Sam Jacobs, Luke Lowden and promising second-year tall Reilly O’Brien.

“We were really keen to try and get another ruckman or ruck/forward in and we’ve done that with Paul,” Ogilvie said.

“Paul is a really competitive ruckman. He’s a guy we’ve tracked for two or three years and we thought he was the best of the state league ruckmen, who could come in and give us some help in that area where we’ve been a little bit lean.

“It worked out really well to be able to go with him with our first (rookie) pick. Our ruck stocks now are a fair bit better.”

Beech, 25, was unlucky not to be rookie-listed by the Crows last year.

The strong-marking forward/midfielder trained with Adelaide last November, but ultimately missed out on selection as a result of the Club’s preferred combination of players/positions.

Beech responded by kicking 35 goals to finish eighth in the Ken Farmer Medal. He averaged 18 possessions, seven marks, six score involvements and four inside 50ms across 22 SANFL games. Beech also ranked No.1 in the league for total marks and third for contested marks

“Jono just deserves his chance. He’s one of the best players in the SANFL,” Ogilvie said.

“(Missing out last year) is not the reason we picked him this year, but he took that well. He went away and worked on the things that we’d spoken. To his credit, he even rang me again two weeks ago to see what he could work on for next season at West Adelaide to give himself another chance if we didn’t pick him today.

“Don (Pyke) had a good look at his vision yesterday and thinks he can play a role for us. We know what sort of mentality, fitness and professionalism he brings.

“He’s hungry … and we’ll see what he can do.”

Ogilvie said the pair fit the Club’s requirements of hard work, elite standards and continual improvement.

“With Paul and Jono, we know they’re going to give it everything they’ve got,” he said.

“We’ve brought in two guys with great character and competitiveness. I’m really looking forward to seeing how they go now.”

On Friday, the Club also confirmed the addition of Category B rookies Hugh Greenwood and Alex Keath to its playing squad.

Greenwood, 23, retired from professional basketball to reignite his football career.

The 191cm, 93kg, forward/midfielder impressed as a junior in Tasmania, but had to give up footy after accepting a basketball scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport as a 15-year-old. Greenwood, who arrived in Adelaide in October, has already started training with the Crows.

Keath’s pre-season is also underway.

Keath, a 196cm key position footballer at junior level with Murray Bushrangers and Melbourne Grammar, was listed by the Gold Coast Suns as a 17-year-old priority pick in 2010. However, the AIS-AFL Academy graduate opted to pursue a career in cricket. He’s still playing grade cricket with Prospect and will see out that commitment over summer.

Ogilvie was pleased to have the promising pair at West Lakes.

“It’s funny, you go out and watch training this morning and they’re both out there training, then we come inside and call their names out in the rookie draft!” Ogilvie said.

“Hugh’s situation gives us a great deal of satisfaction. That’s eight years of work to get him out there onto our training track.

“They’re both going really well. They fit in pretty well out on the track and don’t look out of place.”

Retained rookies O’Brien and Keenan Ramsey round out Adelaide’s 2016 rookie list.