Former National Recruiting Manager James Fantasia tells AFL.com.au's Road to the Draft program about Taylor Walker’s path to the Adelaide Football Club.

“I think most of us believed it was more beneficial to pick a rookie from your home state because some of the guys were coming from a long way back.

“Uprooting a player and having them go through those other hardships whilst also getting through the battle of footy at the elite level, some thought it might be too big a reach for a rookie.

“It didn’t mean you never took a rookie from interstate, but if two players were about even you’d lean towards the local. We always thought that was an advantage for us. In Victoria, there were 10 teams battling for players, whereas, for us and clubs like Port Adelaide, West Coast and Fremantle, you’re only up against one other team.

“Ben Rutten, Nathan Bock and Marty Mattner were all South Australians.

“‘Bocky’ had dreadlocks and was going surfing all the time. He missed a couple of games here and there. I played footy with his coach, who was just a star coach and also footballer, so we got a bit of insight into who the actual person was. That’s where the local knowledge helped.

“As a 16-year-old, Ben Rutten had a fantastic year and was playing SANFL league football. He was holding down centre-half back and beating the State League centre half-forwards. He was the same size as he is now. People didn’t realise that he was a very powerful and quick unit. He looks a bulky, but he’s not slow. His turning circle was a bit slow and it probably got worse after his knee injury. He was in rare form and then all of a sudden, bang, he goes down with a knee and needs a full reconstruction. If you didn’t know enough about him by that stage, it was hard to get information because he was out for most of the next year. He missed out in his first draft. Truck played the next year and while he didn’t set the world on fire, he showed enough. We were lucky that he was still there at the pick that we had. That’s the beauty of the rookie list. You can afford to take a risk on someone who’s had a knee injury or missed a bit of footy.

“The AFL was looking to expand the interest in football across New South Wales, and developed what they called the ‘NSW Scholarship Program’. Every club was required to take two players under a certain qualifying age, which was 15. We’d been to various carnivals throughout NSW and watched the kids, who might be potential start-up scholarship holders.

“With about two weeks to go before the scholarship program was launched, the AFL opened up two more areas, which were Broken Hill and I believe the Albury-Wodonga area. They were two significant areas and football-centric communities. We’d had a solid look at what was around because as a Club we thought it was a free-kick. A lot of the best kids were already taken. Collingwood was a step ahead of the pack. They had a few more resources and did it well.

“When they opened up Broken Hill, we put all our energy into the area. In South Australia, some of our best players over the last 50-60 years have come from Broken Hill. Taylor’s father, Wayne, played at the same SANFL club I played for, Norwood, when I was in the under-age ranks. Basically, we wanted to identify the best three kids in Broken Hill and get in quick. If the timing was too tight, we were willing to sign a kid up without even seeing him because we knew there was a much better chance of finding an AFL player in Broken Hill than there was on the north shore.

“I had a young man on my recruiting team then by the name of Mark Ross. Mark was asked to go out to watch a game in rural NSW. He spent time with the key development guys in that area and developed a great relationship. Mark spent two days getting to know all the players. None of the other clubs attended because it was a bit remote. Our good fortune was that Taylor was playing at that stage. He played a really good game. Mark saw him and thought, ‘Phoar, that’s pretty exciting’.

“Two weeks later, Taylor was riding his motor cross bike out in the sticks in Broken Hill and came off and broke his hip. He was out for the next seven or eight months, which meant that no other clubs saw him play. We had a couple of things working in our favour. We had a very capable recruiter, who came back with a very solid report on Taylor and all our references were positive. It was a no-brainer.

“As the head recruiter, I didn’t want to let my ego get in the way. I hadn’t even seen this kid play, but I knew we would have to make a commitment. I jumped in the car and drove to Broken Hill to meet Taylor, Wayne and his mother, Margaret. They were very excited about the opportunity, especially because Taylor was a Crows supporter growing up. We went through the house and Tex showed me his bedroom. It was wall to wall with Crows posters. We thought it was a perfect fit.

“I think the NSW Scholarship Program was a great initiative. It’s run it’s race now with the expansion teams coming in, but Taylor was just one good story to come of it.”