Quality not quantity
richmondfc.com.au
By Jason Phelan
Sat 29 November, 2008
RICHMOND selected just three players at this year's NAB AFL Draft, but recruiting manager Francis Jackson is confident the quality of those players will tell the story of the Tigers' 2008 draft and not the quantity.
Early draft projections had Vic Metro ruckman Tyrone Vickery rated as a top-five prospect, but Jackson felt that the gifted big man would fall his way at No.8.
"It's amazing. The draft always throws up the unexpected, not so much from our perspective this year, but maybe for a few other clubs. We were delighted to get Tyrone Vickery with our first pick," Jackson said.
"We've watched him grow up over the last three or four years with his father working at the club. To see the way he's worked through a knee reconstruction and his work ethic and diligence in that regard has been fantastic. He'll be a fabulous acquisition for our young group coming through; he'll be able to enjoy the ride with them.
"He's multi-dimensional as well. He can play that tall forward role because of his movement skills so we're delighted with him.
"We took a best player approach, but we didn't have a third-round pick, which always makes a bit of a difference. We traded that for Adam Thomson so you lose a little bit of flexibility to get that right mix of players, but from our perspective we felt that Tyrone was going to fall through to us from early on so that was a big help."
Jackson snared Western Jets key position prospect Jaydyn Post in the second round (26th overall) and former Bomber Tom Hislop in the fourth (58) with those picks before passing at selection 70 to finish out the day.
"We really rated Jaydyn Post at our second pick," Jackson said.
"We just thought that he was a really talented tall and we thought it was important to get in a quality key position player given next year's draft is an eight-month draft with the change of birth dates and the concessions coming in.
"He has significant qualities to add to our group. He's exceptional overhead, he has good movement skills, kicks the ball well and his performance in the finals was outstanding so we're really pleased to have him."
After being selected 20th overall in the 2006 draft Hislop was shown the door by the Bombers, and while Jackson admitted he carried some baggage with him, he said the club had put a lot of time into making sure the Tasmanian would make a go of it at Punt Road.
"Tom has spoken to the club and spoken to Terry at length, so we've had good discussions and felt that he would make the most of his second opportunity," he said.
"We expect a lot from our kids and we expect them all to be responsible and mature, but in effect a lot of them still need to grow up a fair bit. We put high standards on our kids and he had a couple of minor issues, but he'll make the most of his second opportunity.
"We watched some of the games that he played well in so we know what he's got it's just a matter of putting his head down and working really hard and performing."
The Tigers will now have pick six in the pre-season draft to be held on December 16 after passing in the fifth round, but Jackson revealed that had been a last-minute decision after Tasmanian ruckman Bart McCulloch was snatched from his grasp.
"Brisbane took the player we were going to pick at 70 at 69, so they nutted us by one which can happen in this caper," he said.
"We just felt that the draft ran out of a bit of depth there, so we'll sit back and get a few kids in see how they go before the pre-season draft."
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