'Other' draft excites Jackson
richmondfc.com.au
By Mic Cullen
5:27 PM Tue 16 December, 2008
WITH ALL the fuss around Richmond’s selection of Ben Cousins in the 2008 NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft, it’s easy to forget that one of the most important events on the AFL calendar, the NAB AFL Rookie Draft, took place just minutes later.
Richmond picked up four players and passed with their last option in a draft that recruiting manager Francis Jackson described as "fairly thin".
And although Jackson missed one player he would have loved to get to the club, he was more than happy with the ones he did manage to snare.
“I’m genuinely excited the way it all panned out,” Jackson told richmondfc.com.au.
“Robin Nahas (pick
is a small forward who kicked 50 goals for Port Melbourne (VFL), and he will give us that leg-speed and goalkicking ability.
“He also has outstanding defensive skills and is a fantastic tackler, so I’m genuinely excited that he fulfills a significant need on our list.”
David Gourdis is a key position player from Subiaco (WAFL)who was dropped off the Tigers' main list from 2008 but then taken back as a rookie with pick 24.
“When he came to us he didn’t really know a great deal about what the AFL was all about, but he’s matured significantly over the course of the year.
“The improvement in his understanding of the work ethic and need to constantly train at your best has been a credit to him.
“He’s exceptionally quick, exceptionally quick – he could match it with the best of our quick players, and with his size at 193cm, and also his body size, he just gives us another option."
Richmond's third selection, Murray Bushrangers ruckman Andrew Browne, is a player Jackson is excited about.
“He’s going to take a bit of development time – he’s a 204.5cm ruckman from Mansfield who played for Vic Country in the championships,
“We think we’ll be able to build his body – he’s quite skilful, he kicks the footy well and he’s a very good contested mark.”
But there’s no doubt who had to trek the furthest to visit the hallowed turf at Punt Rd.
“Alroy Gilligan’s our last pick. I was really keen to get Alroy here to see how he fitted into the AFL environment. I tracked him down on draft day, when he wasn’t drafted, and he was at home in his community, which is 200km from Fitzroy Crossing (in Western Australia’s far north).
“It took him 25 hours from the time he left his community to when I picked him up at the airport.
“Alroy played with the Claremont colts this year, he’s a very, very quick forward who has quite good endurance and he has a good work ethic.”
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