National Recruiting Manger Matt Rendell says the Crows will be looking to unearth more ‘diamonds’ in next week’s AFL Rookie Draft.
On Tuesday, Adelaide will select up to five players, who will join forward Ian Callinan and midfielder Sam Martyn on the rookie list next season.
Adelaide used all four available picks at last month’s 2011 AFL Draft, adding Mildura-born midfielder Sam Kerridge and local trio Mitch Grigg, Nick Joyce and Cam Ellis-Yolmen to its stocks.
Rendell left the draft table with only a few names remaining on his hit-list, and said he wouldn’t make a decision on whether to use all five available rookie selections until the draft was underway.
“We only had one bloke left on our [national draft] list with the exception of some mature-age players, who we included in case we ran out of numbers [in under-age talent],” Rendell told afc.com.au.
“I honestly thought we would end up taking a mature-age player at pick No.64, but it didn’t turn out that way because we took Cam Ellis-Yolmen.
“I’ll have a list of about 12 names on Tuesday for our five picks.
“One year (2009), we only had about six names on our list and four of those went in the first five picks, so you never know what’s going to happen.
“The rookie draft doesn’t run very deep this year and there’s not a lot left over from the [national] draft.
“Technically, we have pick No.11 (overall) on Tuesday when you include clubs with picks in the pre-season draft.
“Hopefully, we get a few diamonds like we have in previous years.”
Those rookie draft ‘diamonds’ have included All Australian full-back Ben Rutten, veteran Michael Doughty and emerging talents Matt Jaensch, Jared Petrenko, Ricky Henderson, Aidan Riley and Matt Wright.
Former defenders Nathan Bock (Gold Coast) and Marty Mattner (Sydney Swans) also started their careers on Adelaide’s rookie list before moving to other clubs.
Rendell described the rookie draft, introduced by the AFL in 1997, as a “great innovation”, saying it created a pathway for players, who had been overlooked at the national draft.
“There’s always a reason why players are taken in the rookie draft and not the national draft,” he said.
“It might be they’ve come into the season late or that they’re from the country and wanted to stay there.
“They might get injured in their draft year, or have some issues off the field that make you worry about picking them in the national draft.
“Then you’ve got your basketballers or players from other sports and the odd one or two, who spill through from your national draft list.
“Most of the time, you just don’t know enough about the player or they are immature mentally.
“You know the penny hasn’t dropped yet, but you’re picking them on the hope that it does.
“You’re committed to players for two years if you pick them in the national draft, but you’re only committed for one year in the rookie draft.”
Rendell said the Club would look at mature-age players passed over at the national draft for rookie spots, and reaffirmed delisted duo Will Young and James Craig, who have been training with the team this pre-season, would also be given consideration.
With the need for key-position players covered off in trade week, Rendell said the focus would be on recruiting “talented” and “competitive” players.
“We sit down and assess who we got in the draft and who is left in the rookie draft,” he said.
“We discuss whether we need to fill any gaps.
“The coach probably gets a little bit more say when it comes to the rookie draft, but so far ‘Sando’ [coach Brenton Sanderson] hasn’t come in to see me.
“We’ll have a discussion, but we don’t think there’s anything pressing from a needs point of view.”
The pre-season and rookie draft order will be finalised by the AFL this week.
Adelaide does not hold a pick in the pre-season draft.
As the Crows prepare for season 2012 on the track, be sure to visit 19thman.com.au and renew or join the Club for 2012.
