Northern Knights captain Jade Gresham was the standout of the first night of testing at this year's NAB AFL Draft Combine, leading the way as the prospects' skills were put under the microscope.
The small and powerful midfielder, who finished second in this year's Morrish Medal in the TAC Cup, was one of four players to kick a perfect score in the goalkicking test, converting all five of his shots.
Nick O'Kearney, Oleg Markov and Clayton Oliver also kicked perfect scores in the goalkicking test, which sees the draft hopefuls kick set shots, snaps on both feet and running attempts at goal.
Gresham was also among the best performers in the clean hands test and the kicking test, which also took place on Friday night at Etihad Stadium.
Key defender Kieran Collins showed his smarts with the ball, scoring 29 points out of a possible 30 in the handballing test, where players are made to pinpoint handballs to targets at different distances with both hands.
Possible Western Bulldogs father-son pick Darcy MacPherson and neat left-footed defender Tyrone Leonardis were equal second on 28, while another nine players managed to score more than 25 out of 30.
Tasmanian midfielder Mitchell Hibberd continued to boost his draft stocks by winning the kicking test, scoring 24 points out of a possible 30.
The test forces players to kick to targets at short, medium and long distance on both sides of their body, showing their ability to be efficient with the body on their preferred and non-preferred feet.
Hibberd performed well last week in the Allies' Grand Final curtain-raiser game at the MCG and has enjoyed a strong season after overcoming injuries in recent years.
Having missed out on last year's draft, overager Nick Coughlan started his second national combine by finishing second in the kicking test.
MacPherson was again prominent in this test as one of three players to claim 22 points, while talls Ben McKay, Matthew Allen and Charlie Curnow also tested well.
Bulldogs recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple said the club was still weighing up whether to nominate MacPherson ahead of next month's draft.
"The nominations don't close until the end of October. We'll assess Darcy like any other player in the pool. We've obviously seen him play and had a fair bit to do with him," Dalrymple said.
"But there's still a fair bit of work to be done in assessing him comparable to others."
This year's restructured combine format will see a bulk of the testing completed over the weekend, with agility, sprint and the beep test taking place on Saturday.
LEADING PERFORMERS – COMBINE DAY TWO
Clean hands test
Kieran Collins 29 (out of a possible 30)
Darcy MacPherson 28
Tyrone Leonardis 28
Daniel Rioli 27
Rhys Mathieson 27
Mitch King 27
Jade Gresham 26
Bailey Rice 26
Darcy Tucker 26
Declan Mountford 26
Kurt Mutimer 26
Jordan Snadden 26
Goalkicking test
Jade Gresham 30 (out of a possible 30)
Nick O'Kearney 30
Oleg Markov 30
Clayton Oliver 30
Kieran Lovell 25
Tyrone Leonardis 25
Matthew Kennedy 25
Mitchell Hibberd 25
Liam Jeffs 25
Eric Hipwood 25
Matthew Allen 25
Nick Coughlan 25
Mitch King 25
Kicking test
Mitchell Hibberd 24 (out of a possible 30)
Nick Coughlan 23
Darcy MacPherson 22
Thomas Glen 22
Matthew Allen 22
Jade Gresham 21
Nick O'Kearney 21
Rhys Mathieson 21
Declan Mountford 21
Jordan Snadden 21
Ben McKay 21
Charlie Curnow 21
