PORT ADELAIDE will target the best talent and not necessarily South Australian players at the AFL National Draft later this month, according to General Manager - Football, Chris Davies.

Less than three weeks out from the draft, the Power holds a strong hand with three first-round picks for just the third time in its history.

It currently holds picks 5, 10 and 15 after some strong plays during last month’s trade period.

The South Australian Under 18 team won the National Championships earlier this year and was stacked full of potential first-rounders.

“I know there’s been a lot of talk about us taking the South Australian players,” he said.

“At pick five we’ll take whoever we think is the best player that’s left in the draft and whether that’s a Victorian, whether that’s a Tasmanian, a Queenslander, whoever that will be, we’ll take.

“Of course, being based here in South Australia… it’s a consideration but we’re not going to take a South Australian over who we think is the best player to take at that particular point.”

Davies said Port Adelaide knew there was a lot of talent on offer at the top of the draft and made a conscious decision to get as many high picks as possible.

And he said the club would consider trading up again, with picks able to be traded up until a week out from the draft and then again during the draft.

“There’s certainly an extra layer of complexity in this year’s draft,” he said.

“We’ve got the potential to trade next year’s picks into this year’s draft if we see the value in doing so.

“If we see a player who slips in the order who we rate highly there are things we can do to get up higher in this year’s draft.

“It’s something we’ll certainly look at so it’s not in the back of our mind, it’s in the front of our mind because we want our list to be as good as it can be.”

Regardless of whether the Power moves up the order or not, Davies insists the club is in a good spot where it is unlikely to be disappointed.

“We got to this point because we thought there were good players at the top of the draft that we wanted to have a crack at,” he said.

“I don’t think the club will be in a position where it’s able to lose because ultimately (we get) the player that we think is at the very least the fifth best player, and often you might be lucky enough to jag someone that you think is one or two on the list.”

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