National recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie chats to afc.com.au ahead of the NAB AFL Draft on the Gold Coast …

Q. How do you rate the draft pool overall?

A. “It’s a normal standard of draft, but if you put Brad Crouch, Jaeger O’Meara (17-year-old selection, Gold Coast), Joe Daniher (Father-Son, Essendon), Jack Viney (Father-Son, Melbourne) and Lachie Hunter (Father-Son, Western Bulldogs) back into the pool it would be a good draft - well above average.

“Crouchy and O’Meara would’ve fitted easily into the top five this year. I’m pretty biased because we’ve got Crouchy now, but I wouldn’t have been making too many arguments if he and Jaeger were pick No.2 and No.3 this year. The guys at the top of the order this year are really good, but Crouchy and O’Meara are right up there with them. Crouchy would’ve made a mess of them if he’d played TAC Cup this year.

“There aren’t a massive number of talls in this year’s draft, but there are some pretty good ones. Whilst you’ve got to take the best player available with each pick, there are some talls in there for clubs who want them.

“I like next year’s draft. I think it’s going to be really good. An early call is that it’s going to have a good depth of midfielders. There are some good talls next year, but I don’t think they’re as evident yet.”

Q. How deep does the talent in this year’s draft run?

A. “The draft is reasonably predictable to 25. After that, it could go in any direction. There are some ex-AFL players like Ben Jacobs and Taylor Hine, who could come in. Then you’ve got Sammy Iles and Sam Lonergan - AFL players, who probably deserve another chance.

“There are a few state league players left, but not as many because they’ve been knocked off in the last few years by Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney through the previously-listed/nominated players trade incentive. There’ll be a few that get picked up. There are also some 19-year-olds around clubs might be interested in.”

Q. The Club has had good success with latter-round picks in recent times; including David Mackay (Pick No.48 in 2006), Rory Sloane (pick No.44 in 2008), Sam Shaw (pick No.45 in 2009) and Jarryd Lyons (pick No.61 in 2010). Will you still be able to get quality players at No.62 and 81?

A. “Yes, we certainly think we can. You’ve got to stay true to your talent list and that’s certainly our strategy. If a player on our list is still there at No.62, we’ll stick with our order. If it gets a bit light on then we might look at some needs. You’ve got to back your work in - we’ve done the work.”

Q. How do you rate the South Australian talent this year?

A. “The SA boys are very good. I haven’t seen too many ruckmen as good as Brodie Grundy come through in a while. I think he stacks up pretty well to Matthew Kreuzer - his draft year form has been of a similar standard to Kreuzer’s. Sam Mayes is another who will go early and Jimmy Toumpas is just an A-grade quality person from a quality family. He’s probably everything we need at the moment, but we wish him luck wherever he goes.

“I would’ve interviewed Jimmy three or four times. Towards the end it probably became clear that we weren’t going to get him but you’ve still got to do the work. If we were able to do a deal for Kurt Tippett, who knows? We might’ve got into a position to get Jim. One of our aims early on was probably to get a deal done that would allow us to somehow get Jimmy, but it obviously hasn’t worked out that way."

Q. Nick Joyce has opted to nominate for the Pre-season Draft instead of the National Draft …

A. “Yes, it’s a few more weeks Nick has to grind out, but in the scheme of life two weeks won’t be a big problem. By then we should get a pick back and we’ll get him back on the list. Nick’s been great in the way he’s handled it.”