The Sydney Swans hope to build on the Club’s surge of young stars at this week’s AFL Draft.
National Recruiting Manager Simon Dalrymple is optimistic as Sydney prepares to lure Australia’s best available talent to the Club at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on Thursday and Friday.
Tom Papley, Will Hayward, Oliver Florent, Tom McCartin, Ben Ronke and a long list of other Sydney youngsters have in recent times made their mark on the AFL.
Dalrymple is confident in the number of other budding young footballers on the recruitment team’s radar ahead of Thursday night.
“You’re always optimistic because as recruiters you’re optimists at heart,” Dalrymple told SwansTV.
“You look at what the players can do and what they can improve on.
“We think with Nick Blakey and potentially three other picks in the 30s we’ll have a good group of players available for us. Hopefully they’re players of the right character to improve and thrive. There’s never a ceiling on the development of a young player and there are always surprises with those who can have an impact in their first year as well as being good long-term players.”
The Swans’ team of recruiters, headlined by General Manager - Recruiting and List Strategy Kinnear Beatson, has kept a close eye on Sydney’s Academy as well as the NEAFL, VFL, AFL Under-18 Championships and a host of other breeding grounds for star talent.
Dalrymple said a prosperous Draft would be a well-deserved reward for rigorous preparation.
“There’s a lot of work involved in preparing for the Draft,” Dalrymple said.
“There’s a lot of watching of games, which is the key component, reviewing game reports from our scouts around the country and a lot of watching of vision of players on our talent list. We have over 100 players throughout the course of the year on our talent list and that’s refined during the year.
“There’s also a lot of analysing of data: fitness-testing results, site profiles and statistical analysis of kicks, marks and handballs. So there’s a lot of work to do in a thorough and systematic fashion.”
The Swans’ first- to fifth-year players returned for pre-season training last Monday, with Isaac Heeney, Callum Mills and Will Hayward just a few of the names to have got a head-start on Sydney’s more experienced footballers.
The more experienced Swans, headlined by captain Josh Kennedy, will return to action next Monday ahead of the 2019 season.
Dalrymple says the list is in a strong place as the 2019 campaign draws closer.
“With the youth already at the Club we’re optimistic,” Dalrymple said.
“There are always things to work on with the balance of the list, but Kinnear Beatson and the team over the last 10 years have done a great job. So the foundations are there and we’re looking ahead to a positive off-season leading up to next year.”
The Swans hold picks 26, 33, 38, 39, 40 and 84 ahead of the AFL Draft, with live trading and the academy bidding system set to play out on the night.
You can follow news on the Draft on sydneyswans.com.au, the Official Sydney Swans Club App or the Swans’ Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. The Draft will be broadcast live on Fox Footy (channel 504) from 6:30pm (AEDT), with the first round expected to commence about 7pm. Day two will be broadcast live on Fox Footy (channel 504) from midday.
