This year’s draft class could be among the most even in recent years, according to Crows National Recruiting Manager Hamish Ogilvie.
While the race for the top eight heats up on the field, recruiting staff continue to ramp up preparations behind the scenes for November’s National Draft, which returns to Sydney for the first time since 2011.
Barely five months out from this year’s meet, Ogilvie said it was still difficult to predict how the draft might unfold.
“It’s very even, maybe there’s six or eight that you could separate and then a group of 15-20 that are very, very even,” Ogilvie said on AFL Media’s Road to the 2016 Draft podcast this week.
“There’s still some guys jumping up now and we always said at the end of the Nationals (Under-18 Championships) I think we’ll know, but this year we really did need the Nationals to get it to settle down and see where everyone sits.
“It’s just the tricky aspect of has it settled down and who’s placed where. What I think is an order or what I like is going to be different than what you like, and I think that’s going to be true across all the clubs.”
While this year’s range of young talent looks well balanced at the top end, Ogilvie said there could be opportunities for clubs to secure strong selections further down the order.
“I think it’s perhaps a bit deeper than last year. We always probably thought it was going to be a bit better than last year,” he said.
“I think next year looks really strong, probably a little bit better than this year.
“But there’s depth. The tricky thing about this draft is it looks very even. I don’t reckon you could tell me now who No.1 is.”
After stints as a coach in Tasmania and Victoria, Ogilvie joined Adelaide’s recruiting department in 2006 before taking over as National Recruiting Manager in 2012.
The industry has grown significantly during his time at the Club. Staffing and resources have swelled across the competition as clubs increasingly look to enhance their prospects at the draft table.
Ignoring the countless hours spent reviewing game vision electronically, Ogilvie revealed that he also watches up to 150 games live a year in preparation for each meet.
“You’ve just got to try and maximise and see as much as you can,” he said.
“You probably end up watching a few more than you need to, but just because of travel and logistics and where you are.
“Ideally I reckon about 100 (games) would be the right amount for me, but there’s sort of 50 games that are thrown in.”
Despite the significant evolution of the game over the years, Ogilvie believes one of the most basic characteristics remains top priority when scouting young draft hopefuls.
“You’ve just got to be able to compete,” he said.
“AFL footy is hard. It’s a hard game, it’s fully professional, long days, you’ve got to fit in with 100 people at the club, staff and players and so on. But if you can’t compete, you can’t play.
“There’s plenty of good players all over the place in footy everywhere. Work might be important, school and education might be important - it’s not for everyone.
“When it comes down it and it’s Grand Final day, you’ve just got to be able to compete. That’s got to be the most overriding aspect that we assess.
“If you can’t do that, it’s very hard to play.”
