Adelaide National Recruiting Manager Hamish Ogilvie says the Club is in a “good position” as it looks to bolster its squad at the Telstra AFL National Draft this week.
This year’s draft will be hosted across two nights - this Wednesday and Thursday - with the Crows currently holding Pick No.4, 64 and 78.
Speaking to AFC Media, Ogilvie expected a talented player to be available at Pick No.4, given the evenness of this year’s crop.
“We’re in a good position,” Ogilvie said.
“It’s been a big preparation… I can’t ever remember doing as much work on five-to-seven players at the top of the draft as to what we have for this lot because they are all very good, it’s been really tricky to split them.
“We would easily have over 40 players that we’d be more than happy to pick and I gather other Clubs will be the same.”
Ogilvie said his team was not opposed to live trading to move further up the draft board, despite having a high first-round pick at hand.
“We’ll certainly entertain it and we have looked at it,” Ogilvie said.
“The likelihood of that happening, I’m not sure, yet.
“But we need to be prepared for that, which we are, and that’s one of the exciting things for our supporters. Live trading gives us the scope to move up or back a little bit.
“At the moment we’ve got Pick No.4 and we are more than happy to take it but if a really good opportunity arises, we are certainly open to that as well.”
Although the Club’s draft hand includes three picks, Ogilvie expects just two to be used, with one likely to be for father-son product Tyler Welsh.
The Club officially nominated Welsh, the son of former player Scott Welsh, last month.
“We will probably use two picks, (and) we’ve got enough points out the back to hopefully cover and bring Tyler (Welsh) in as well,” Ogilvie said.
“We want to bring in players who will make us better and we’ve got to make decisions with all the information we’ve got to bring in someone who’s going to help us be successful and have sustained success.
“I am really confident the players we are talking about and working on at the top end of the draft are going to be able to do that.”
The 2024 Telstra AFL National Draft will be hosted at Marvel Stadium on Wednesday, November 20, and Thursday, November 21.
It will be broadcast live on AFL.com.au and on Foxtel and Kayo from 6.15pm (ACDT).
For more details about this year's Draft, click here.
