Adelaide is looking forward to moving on after ending their AFL-imposed punishment over the Kurt Tippett affair at the national draft on Thursday night.
For the second year in a row the Crows were forced to trade their way into the second round of the draft as part of sanctions imposed for breaching the salary cap.
The Crows picked up midfield duo Matt Crouch – brother of rising Adelaide star Brad – and Riley Knight with picks 23 and 46 on the Gold Coast, a result that list manager David Noble was pleased with.
The 2013 punishment came after the club voluntarily withdrew from the first two rounds at last year’s draft in a bid to lessen their punishment from the AFL.
Noble admitted the two-year period had presented challenges to the club’s recruiting plans but overall he was happy with how the Crows were placed as they re-enter situation normal next year.
“It was an awkward, difficult situation that we had to cope with but I think from what we’ve done in the last couple of years, it’s a tick for us from a club as to what we’ve had to work through,” Noble told AAP.
“We’re pleased with how we’ve come out of it.
“If you look at how we’ve re-contracted our talent in the last couple of years we’ve been pretty bullish about doing it early, maintaining that group through and adding into our coach development, our player development.
“So some other elements have become crucial links into that retention element.”
The other club forced to trade their way into the second round of the draft was Essendon, as the first of two years of sanctions following the supplements scandal.
Bombers list manager Adrian Dodoro said the club’s plans had been thrown somewhat into chaos when the punishments were handed down in August.
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He viewed the capture of midfielder Zach Merrett with pick 26 as a win, but Dodoro was hopeful a bit more time to plan will lessen the impact of the punishments going into next year’s draft.
“At least we’ve got 12 months, or more than 12 months to plan, which is a little bit different to this year,” he told AAP.
“We got caught pretty late, so planning had already taken place.
“It’s a long way out but at least you’ve got 12 months to do it, whereas this year we had a few weeks to get our house in order.
“Got out of it okay in the end, good result, don’t forget Paul Chapman’s on board. It’s positive, we’re optimistic we’ll have a good year next year.”
Port Adelaide drafted four players to its list.
Port did not have a selection in the first round of the draft – a rarity for the club in recent years – but managed to secure an important small defender in Victorian Jarman Impey.
Hailing from the Shepparton region of Victoria, Impey is a talented utility who can play in many positions around the ground, however Parker expects him to play as a small defender under Hinkley’s 2014 plans.
Impey, along with other draftees Darcy Byrne-Jones (Pick 52) and Karl Amon (Pick 68), adds vital leg speed to the Power’s list.
Byrne-Jones and Amon will come to Alberton as members of the latest Victoria Metro graduate pool, the former an ex-Oakleigh Charger while the latter played for Sandringham Dragons.
As a defender and midfielder respectively, the pair will provide flexibility to the Power’s list according to Parker.
Port Adelaide also selected a local with pick 45 in the form of former North Adelaide player Mitchell Harvey.
Playing in juniors for Broadview in the inner north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide, Harvey is a tall forward who was impressive for South Australia in the recent NAB Under-18 Championships.
The quartet will join Port Adelaide’s main list on its pre-season training camp in Dubai, with the team set to fly to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday.
The club is also set to add to its list during the upcoming pre-season and rookie drafts to be held on Wednesday 27 November.
A total of thirteen South Australians were selected Thursday night.
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Led by Glenelg utility Matthew Scharenberg (Collingwood, pick No.6) and Norwood midfielder James Aish (Brisbane, pick No.7) who were both selected inside the top-10, the SANFL’s success in producing mature-age selections also continued with Matt Fuller (Western Bulldogs) and Nathan Gordon (Richmond) chosen.
SANFL High Performance Manager Brenton Phillips paid tribute to the diligent work done by the league’s Talent Managers, who helped ensure more than 23 per cent of players selected were from South Australia.
“Once again we have had a good number of talented young men drafted so we are really pleased with the way our development is going,’’ said Phillips, acknowledging the efforts of Woodville-West Torrens and Norwood for each having four players selected.
“All of our SANFL clubs are able to produce exceptional top-end talent.
“Our system in South Australia clearly holds up really strongly as you are able to play for a club in multiple grades – league, reserves or under-18 – depending on your rate of development. This ensures players of all abilities are catered for.”
SANFL PLAYERS SELECTED
6. Matthew Scharenberg (Glenelg) to Collingwood
7. James Aish (Norwood) to Brisbane
18. Luke Dunstan (Woodville-West Torrens) to St Kilda
27. Sean Lemmens (Port Adelaide) to Gold Coast
30. Trent Dumont (Norwood) to North Melbourne
31. Malcolm Karpany (Woodville-West Torrens) to West Coast
32. George Hewett (North Adelaide) to Sydney
39. Cameron Giles (Woodville-West Torrens) to Carlton
42. Matthew Fuller (Norwood) to Western Bulldogs
45. Mitchell Harvey (North Adelaide) to Port Adelaide
46. Riley Knight (Woodville-West Torrens) to Adelaide
50. Nathan Gordon (North Adelaide) to Richmond
55. Orazio Fantasia (Norwood) to Essendon
