PORT ADELAIDE senior coach Ken Hinkley is excited by the prospect of bringing in another three or four talented youngsters at next week’s NAB AFL Draft.

The club has another three first-round draft picks - on the back of three selections inside the top 18 last season - as well as a couple of possible father-son prospects.

“I’m full of excitement,” Hinkley told 3AW on Thursday afternoon.

“The boys we brought in last year, along with Burton and Lycett - if we can add three, four or even five players to somewhere near that talent would be great.

“Young kids of today come in - more than ever - ready to play the game.”

Hinkley said the recruiting and list management staff have put the club in a really good position to bring in the high-end talent, including potential father-son prospect Jackson Mead.

“I think you can already see with what Jason (Cripps) and Geoff (Parker) have done with our planning into the draft,” Hinkley said.

“We now have selections at 12, 16 and 18 - we think we will end up with three players, and we think we will end up with Jackson (Mead) outside of those three.

“There are no guarantees, but our recruiters and the competition’s recruiters would think Jackson sits around 18-25 in the draft.

“I think clubs still respect the father-son stuff a bit more, they really do try to protect it. The son of Darren Mead should be playing at Port Adelaide.”

The senior coach was also excited at the prospect of welcoming back senior players like Jack Watts into the selection frame after a horrific leg injury in 2019.

“We believe in Jack (Watts), he’s on the track and running really well at the moment,” he said.

“He’s progressing quite smoothly, but it is a significant injury he’s coming back from. We’ve seen Charlie (Dixon) come back from basically the same injury at the mid-point of last year.

“It does take them a while, but Jack will certainly leave no stone unturned to be ready. He wants to be the person who fulfils the talent that he’s had at some point in his career.”