When the AFL decided to turn the draft into an American-influenced prime-time drama, in which teams could trade picks, the hope was that it would spice up what had often been a sluggish event.
But to turn the draft into genuine drama, the AFL still needed something unexpected or unusual to happen – an audacious trade, the shock selection of a felon, a risque comment by a draftee.
The top 10 pick in the AFT national draft suit up in their new teams' colours. Credit:AAP
The first hour and a half of this jazzed-up draft largely went according to the preordained script, with the exception of a Sydney-West Coast double pick swap that some clubs felt would not have been allowed by the AFL during the trade period.
No one made a reckless trade in the top 10, giving up the world for a kid they loved. No one was really picked well ahead of the predicted order. It was all pretty subdued – as dull as the previous 10 drafts – until the Carlton Football Club intervened and made the first genuinely audacious live trade under the newly Americanised draft system.
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The Blues had selected Sam Walsh at pick one and the assumption from most of the rest of us was that they would sit it out for the rest of the evening, put up their feet and then pick Ben Silvagni and someone else with their late picks in the 60s.
Then, about 8.40pm, we heard that irritating "dong" sound and the cameras crossed to Carlton's box. The Blues, we discovered, had struck a trade with Adelaide that no one – besides the clubs involved – had foreseen.
Carlton gained pick 19 from Adelaide and the Crows' first round pick in 2019. In return, the Blues gave up their first choice for next year. They used pick 19 to pick Liam Stocker from Sandringham, who was – fittingly – given his jumper by the Sandy Dragons' most decorated alumnus, Chris Judd, the former champion and Carlton director who surely would have known this deal was in the wind.
Liam Stocker receives his Carlton jumper from Blues legend Chris Judd.Credit:AAP
In effect, the Blues have gambled that a) they will not finish near the bottom, or, b) that the gap between themselves and Adelaide next year won't be huge. And, most of all, they have punted on Stocker, a strong-bodied midfielder who won the Morrish Medal and whom the Blues clearly rated.
That future first-round pick had been on the table during the October trading period if Dylan Shiel had chosen Carlton. GWS, though, had told the Blues that they would prefer to deal with Essendon, in the (correct) belief they would get pick nine from the Dons and their 2019 first round for Shiel. If you compare last night's draft – in which 23 players were picked – to a Test match, it was like two wickets falling in second last over before stumps.
The other slight controversy was the two-part trade between the Swans and Eagles. In part one, the Swans gave up pick 26 for West Coast's 2019 third rounder – a deal that made no sense for Sydney, unless there was another part.
In part two, the Eagles handed pick 24 to Sydney and received Sydney's second. Clearly, these deals were connected, which they're not supposed to be. A clever move that pushed the rules.
The order of the top seven was precisely what we expected. Sam Walsh went first – to Carlton, in a selection that could have been made in July. The Suns selected their South Australia duo Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine, St Kilda took one King, Gold Coast took the other, backing themselves to retain the twin brother (Ben), in defiance of their recent exodus of captains and elite players.
Port took an SA kid (Connor Rozee), the Dogs grabbed the hyper-driven Victorian Bailey Smith at pick 7.
Sydney was an early winner in terms of the bidding for academy players. To borrow a Paul Keating-ism, the Swans had already been struck in the arse by a rainbow to have Nick Blakey in their academy, a happenstance caused by his father John being a long-time member of the club's coaching panel.
Some recruiters fancied Blakey as a top five pick. But he was not bid upon until pick No.10, when their cross-town rival forced the Swans to pay what was still viewed as a bargain price for Blakey, a 195cm player who can play as either midfielder or key forward.
North Melbourne, conversely, paid a higher price for their Next Generation Academy recruit Thomas, who attracted a bid from the Crows at pick 8.
Collingwood, likewise fortunate to have Isaac Quaynor in their NGA, was forced to pay a fair price for the defender, who was bid upon by Greater Western Sydney at pick 13.
The Pies will claim their father-son recruit Will Kelly tomorrow.
Amid the predictable and the unexpected from Carlton and Adelaide, there was an outcome that would have pleased the AFL – that Tasmania, the state that had suffered a marked decline as a nursery of talent, produced two of the first 10 players taken (Tarryn Thomas and Chayce Jones, both from Launceston clubs).
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