PORT Adelaide could look to satisfy a need with pick No. 16 in next Thursday’s NAB AFL Draft, but that selection is unlikely to be used to secure a ruckman according to recruiting manager Blair Hartley.

The Power have just three picks, numbers 8, 9 and 16 in this year’s draft, and could stray from the traditional ‘best available’ talent approach in favour of a player more suited to their needs.

Port Adelaide, which lost dual All-Australian Brendon Lade to retirement earlier this year, is in need of a ready-made ruckman to support to lead big man Dean Brogan.

Despite showing interest, the Power didn’t get a deal done for Adelaide big man Jon Griffin during trade week and none of the club’s back-up ruck options, Matthew Lobbe, Jackson Trengove, Daniel Stewart and Jarrad Redden, have played an AFL game.

The Power have been linked to budding ruckmen, Max Gawn, Nathan Vardy and James Craig at pick No. 16, but Hartley said he was confident the club’s current ruck stocks would emerge as AFL players in the coming years.

“We’re very happy with the way Matthew Lobbe, Jackson Trengove and Jarrad Redden [are developing]. Even Daniel Stewart has showed he can play in the ruck, so we’ve got four young options there and if we draft another ruckman they might be behind that group already,” Hartley said.

“It’s not a great draft in terms of depth for ruckmen. We’ve looked fairly heavily into that and we do have [early picks] in 8, 9 and 16, it’s just a matter of whether we want to take a punt on another young ruckman.”

Port Adelaide, which invested a total of eight years into delisted pair Jon Giles and Fabian Deluca, could instead look to bolster its ruck department in December’s pre-season and rookie drafts.

The Power have expressed interest in ex-Carlton utility Cameron Cloke, with football manager Peter Rohde suggesting the pinch-hitting ruckman could be invited out to train with the club after next week’s national draft.

Port Adelaide is currently without a pick in the pre-season draft and would need to delist another player in order to participate.

Under the AFL changes to rules regarding rookies, the club also has the option of listing Cloke as a mature-age rookie if he slips through the national and pre-season drafts.

“The [rookie list] changes give us some freedom there, but at the moment we don’t have a pick in the pre-season draft, so we’ll look at that closer to the time,” Hartley said.

The Power are expected to take advantage of the abundance of midfield talent in next week’s national draft by adding at least one onballer to their list.

But the club is also understood to be keen on key forwards John Butcher and Andrew Griffiths, as well as versatile tall Jake Carlisle.

Port Adelaide has narrowed its wish list down to 19 names and Hartley said he was confident he could secure a quality player with each of his three selections.

“The top two picks in the draft Jack Trengove and Tom Scully are standout players. The talent pool isn’t as deep as previous years and we feel it drops away after the first 10 to 12 players,” he said.

“But we’re confident we may even be able to get three of those [top 12] players ... That’s why we really wanted to get our teeth into the draft early and we’re happy to be out at 16.”

Log on to afl.com.au on D-day, Thursday, November 26, for the most comprehensive coverage of the 2009 NAB AFL Draft. We’ll have live chats, live audio streams, in-depth player profiles, club reaction and our famous afl.com.au Draft Tracker.