"WE have been very good at picking and playing (mid-season draftees) pretty quickly."
Ken Hinkley is not wrong.
Port Adelaide recruiting chief Geoff Parker has had eight picks in six mid-season drafts since the recruiting lottery was re-introduced in 2019 - three this year. He has not wasted any of them - and Hinkley has not dithered in proving Parker's eye for talent.
Mature midfielder Mani Liddy last Sunday continued the trend of Port Adelaide playing a mid-season rookie draftee "pretty quickly" - 18 days to be precise.
How does this quick rise from suburban SANFL football with Central District to the national stage at Adelaide Oval against Melbourne on Sunday stack up to Hinkley's memory of quickly calling up a mid-season rookie?
Liddy's 18 days is three short of the club record of the 15 days Hinkley waited before calling up proven midfielder Quinton Narkle against his former Geelong team-mates for a Thursday night game at Adelaide Oval.
Liddy's 18 days is one short of the 17 days Hinkley waited before testing a player with no AFL experience - East Fremantle ruckman Brynn Teakle - on the national stage.
From Narkle's 15-day wait to the 45 days with Sturt recruit Jed McEntee, Hinkley has indeed made sure Parker's "very good picks" at the mid-season draft wear Port Adelaide's colours on the national stage pretty quick.
Liddy - who won the approval of many critics at the weekend - does get to share one record at Port Adelaide for all players, not just mid-season draftees.
He - and mid-season rookie draft colleague Cam Sutcliffe - are the only AFL-listed players to take the field in a guernsey with the white panel having the number 50. It is the highest number worn by a Port Adelaide player in AFL action.
Port Adelaide's record with the mid-season draft reads:
2019
Draft on May 27.
CAM SUTCLIFFE
Port Adelaide has Jake Patmore on the long-term injury list. It called (at pick nine) from its SANFL ranks former Fremantle midfielder Cam Sutcliffe (104 AFL games in purple). He is handed guernsey number 50 and makes his AFL start with Port Adelaide after 18 days - against Brisbane at Adelaide Oval.
Sutcliffe played five games in 2019 and four in 2020 and remains at Alberton in a critical role in the development coaching ranks.
2020
Pandemic closed draft.
2021
Draft on June 2.
JED McENTEE
Port Adelaide had earmarked Jed McEntee's file for the 2019 AFL national draft. Despite his SANFL record as a midfielder, Port Adelaide wanted the Sturt prospect as a forward - and left a rookie spot on its list if it kept seeing reason to call McEntee to Alberton.
Draft pick No.13 was the lucky call for McEntee. He waited 45 days for his opportunity making his AFL debut - in jumper No.41 - on July 17 against St Kilda. It was his only AFL game that season and he remains on the Port Adelaide list with a record of 47 games (the best for a mid-season rookie at Port Adelaide).
2022
Draft on June 2.
BRYNN TEAKLE
Here is the club record for an untried talent. With Jake Pisani on the long-term injury list - and Port Adelaide having lead ruckman Scott Lycett injured after a classic duel with Melbourne captain Max Gawn in late April - Geoff Parker noted a 203-centimetre prospect was at East Fremantle.
Brynn Teakle was called at pick No.8, put in the No.27 jumper and sent to battle against Sydney on June 18. He made an exciting start by throwing his body into contests ... and broke a collarbone in the second term.
Teakle had two seasons - and six games - at Port Adelaide before being delisted and claimed by North Melbourne in the mid-season draft last year.
2023
Draft on May 31.
QUINTON NARKLE
"Sparkle" holds the record - 15 days from being called at pick No.11 while Mitch Georgiades went to the long-term injury list with a knee injury. He started his Port Adelaide story against his former club, Geelong, in Thursday night football at Adelaide Oval wearing No. 47. He switched to No. 42 last season when he finished his Port Adelaide story at 16 games in two seasons. He is currently at his third AFL club, Fremantle.
2024
Draft on May 29.
LOGAN EVANS
Overlooked in his draft year after difficult personal challenges in the second half of the SANFL season, Evans was ushered to Alberton in the pre-season and called at pick No.12 in the mid-season draft. He was in AFL action after 24 days wearing No. 43 in defence against Brisbane at Adelaide Oval.
Evans had a long overdue Rising Star nomination in Round 24 while he was building his 13-game resume last season. It has been a tougher second season in which he has played seven games this season - and signed a contract extension last month.
2025
Draft on May 28.
MANI LIDDY
EWAN MacKINLAY
HARRISON RAMM
A club-high three picks at Nos. 3 (Ramm), 11 (MacKinlay) and 16 (Liddy) after Todd Marshall, Tom Cochrane and Xavier Walsh were put on the long-term injury list.
Liddy has continued the trend of a quick rise at Alberton from SANFL ranks - just 18 days - to his AFL debut against Melbourne at home on Sunday. His progress does dismiss the thought it is too much to ask of a player without a full AFL pre-season and little time to adjust to a different game plan after leaving a suburban league club.
Hinkley says the path to success is quite basic: "The fundamentals are pretty simple - turn up, work hard, put your head over the ball when you need to and have composure when the ball is in your hands."
