PORT ADELAIDE is preparing to pick two players at tonight’s NAB AFL Draft including Next Generation Academy prospect Lachie Jones.
Port gets the first right to match any bid for Jones, who was a standout playing league football and winning the SANFL premiership with Woodville-West Torrens.
The defender is renowned for his fearless and composed play, along with his attack on the ball and booming right foot.
Port’s National Recruiting Manager Geoff Parker said it was hard to know where a bid for Jones would come, but that would determine how the rest of the draft plays out for the club.
“We’ve got two spots on our list so we’re prepared to pick two players tonight and then move into the rookie draft tomorrow,” he said on Adelaide radio on Wednesday morning.
“Once the bid comes for Lachie, we have to look at what picks or what pick we have left, and where that sits so we’ve got a bit of a wait on and we’ve got an idea of the kind of player we’d like but we’ll have to wait and see who is there and how it plays out.
“I think he sits somewhere in the middle of that first round and it’s hard to get an idea of exactly where because Essendon, the Giants, North Melbourne and even the Crows have so many picks in that first 15, it’s hard to get a read on it.”
Port Adelaide enters the draft with no first-round pick, having traded it away to secure Mitch Georgiades in the 2019 draft.
Parker explained that decision.
“We liked the previous two drafts, particularly the 2018 draft, so we tried to get our early picks in then and it was around this time last year Jason Cripps said to me, how do you think Lachie Jones is tracking?” he explained.
“I said with the way he’s going he’s potentially a first-round pick so we planned around that and used a trade so we could get two first-round picks last year.
“Lachie tracked the way we thought he would so it’s worked out nicely for us.”
Port enters the draft with picks 35, 47, 57, 59, 73, 94.
And while the club expects to be a minor player on Wednesday night and into Thursday’s rookie draft, Parker said he and his team have still compiled a detailed list of players it is interested in.
“This year we haven’t got quite as many players for a couple of reasons,” he said.
“One is that the Victorian boys haven’t played but we obviously only have a couple of picks and where Lachie sits in the pool.
“We’ve worked through 25-30 players and tried to get them in what we think is the right order, and we’ll work off that.”
And there is no specific position Parker’s group will chase, instead focusing on the best available players at the time.
“I don’t think there’s too many needs,” Parker said of the current playing list.
“Over the last few years, we really tried to attack a few areas, we really tried to shore up the forward line and the midfield the year before that.
“Our defenders in football terms are getting a bit older and Lachie Jones playing down back for most of his career fits that need so I think we’re pretty well balanced.”
The NAB AFL Draft will be a virtual event that you can watch live on Fox Footy or through AFL.com.au or the AFL Live Official App from 6:30pm ACDT time.
