Tigers to keep top-end picks
29 September 2004
Herald Sun
Rebecca Williams
RICHMOND has committed to using its early first-round draft picks on young talent as recruiters prepare to cast a final eye over this year's crop of AFL hopefuls.
Tigers recruiting manager Greg Beck yesterday ruled out trading the club's high picks for established talent.
The man armed with selections one and four will join the rest of the league's recruiters in Canberra today for the start of the AFL draft camp.
The camp is the final opportunity for the young hopefuls to leave an impression on clubs before the November 20 national draft.
An excited Beck said the Tigers did not want to pass on the opportunity to grab the best young talent on offer.
"We won't be trading one or four," Beck said. "We haven't had a No. 1 pick in the national draft in I can't remember how long. And four's pretty important as well, so it's important that we hang on to these picks and use them.
"Hopefully the kids we pick are going to be there for the next 10 years; 200-game players who will hopefully have some kind of leadership role in time down at the club as well."
Murray midfielder Brett Deledio is regarded as the No. 1 draft prospect, but Beck said the Vic Country star was one of five players the Tigers were scrutinising.
"We're not going to jump into things at this particular stage," Beck said.
"We've still got seven weeks before the draft. We're yet to catch up with a number of the mums and dads and also a couple of these boys.
"We're heading up (to Canberra) to talk to the kids and to see what they're like in terms of handling the pressure of having 100 stacks of eyes upon them."
This year, 74 players were invited to the draft camp at the Australian Institute of Sport based on nominations submitted to the AFL.
Each player needed five clubs to have him on their list to get a run at the camp.
Of the 70-odd players invited to the camp each year, an average of 50 are drafted.
Another 119 players will attend state-based screening sessions in early October.
Over three days, the players' fitness, reaction time, decision-making, concentration, agility and skills will be tested. Players are also medically screened and interviewed by AFL clubs.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,10914149%255E19742,00.html
