The Sydney Swans have added four fresh faces to the club at the 2024 Telstra AFL Draft.

Victorian Jesse Dattoli and South Australian Ned Bowman joined the club on Wednesday night as first round picks while mature-aged selections Werribee's Riley Bice and Dandenong's Riak Andrew were selected on the second night of the draft. 

PICK 22 - JESSE DATTOLI

With the club's first selection, pick 22, Jesse Dattoli arrives at the Swans from the Northern Knights and Vic Metro representation.

A proven performer, whether in the midfield or up forward, Dattoli has good skills on both sides of his body and is strong overhead for his size.

He joined the Northern Knights as a 16-year old in 2022 after solid form for junior club Ivanhoe, where he managed 28 goals from 12 games. A highlight of his season the following year in 2023 was a four-goal haul against Murray Bushrangers and his strong form for the Knights resulted in a call-up to the Vic Metro Squad.

In season 2024 he went on to average 23 disposals per game with the Knights and appeared in all four games for the championship winning Vic Metro side.

Sydney Swans Head of List Strategy & Player Personnel Chris Keane said he and the Swans recruiting team were thrilled to have landed Dattoli's services.

"We really rated him highly and we are excited that he got through to our first pick," Keane said.

"He's a forward half player who we think over time can develop into a really good midfielder. His footy fundamentals are really, really strong, and we think he can offer some great flexibility in time."

PICK 26- NED BOWMAN

Joining the Swans at pick 26 is the high-flying Norwood forward Ned Bowman.

Bowman caught the eyes of the AFL world in the Under 18 SANFL season with an incredible grab in Round 3 against the Woodville West-Torrens Eagles. The Norwood junior with plenty of x-factor produced a number of mark of the year contenders throughout the season and was the club’s leading goalkicker.

A South Australian representative at the National Championships, Bowman's notable performance was against Western Australia where he was named in the team's best with a three-goal second half.

While some suggested Bowman was a 'bolter' for the Swans second pick of the night, Keane said the young South Australian impressed the Sydney recruiters throughout the year and he was high on their radar.

"It's always an interesting one, I am not sure where they get their rankings from, for us, we go off our order for all the work we have done across the year so that's all we can go off.

"We really love his attributes. He is a really good athlete who is going to add some speed and power to the front half of our game.

"We wanted to address that part of the ground if we could but also align with the talent that we had in order, I think that ticked both boxes which is really pleasing. 

PICK 41- RILEY BICE

Off the back of a strong season in the VFL mature-age defender Riley Bice was recruited to the Swans on night two of the 2024 AFL Draft with pick 41.

Hailing from the Albury Tigers and Werribee Football Club, the 24-year-old played an integral part in clinching the VFL premiership this year, averaging 21.1 disposals, 6.9 marks and 4.8 intercepts this season.

Bice's strong outside run and kicking ability earned him a spot in the 2024 Smithy’s VFL Team of the Year. His AFL recruitment, a cherry on top to an outstanding year.

Keane said Bice was story of persistence and his athletic ability and experience was hard to go past.

"Riley is a a really good story, originally coming from Albury, he persisted at his footy and it's taken him a while to get through the system but he's worked his way through to play some really good footy for Werribee this season and deserves his opportunity.
 
"He's a rebounding half back flanker who possesses really good speed and endurance and that combination can be really hard to find.
 
"He's already played at VFL level so it's a bit of a different scenario to under 18 kids who don't have that exposure so we expect Riley to adapt pretty quickly."

Pick 55- Riak Andrew

Closing out night two, Riak Andrew - brother of Gold Coast Suns star Mac - joins the club at pick 55. Standing at 193cm, the tall defender returned to the Dandenong Stingrays as an over-ager in 2024 to develop his skills after several years of injury setbacks.

Graduating from Melbourne Next Generation Academy, Andrew is known for his speed off the mark and aerial ability. After playing in positions across the field, he established himself in the backline and finished the 2024 season strong shutting down a number of key forwards in National Championships fixtures.

Keane said it was great to have locked down Andrew, a key position player for the club.

"He's a prospect key position player who we rate really highly. We are really excited he was there for our pick and are happy to fill that position as a need.

"Riak was in the pool as an 18-year old last year but got overlooked, his form at the back end of this season was really strong and he's worked really hard for his opportunity."

In other draft night news, QBE Sydney Swans Academy player Joel Cochrane was selected at pick 47 to Collingwood Football Club.

Speaking on his selection, Chris Keane said:

"First and foremost it its great for Joel that he has been able to end up on a list.

"The other part is, the northern academies adding talent to the national pool is also important. We were one of three clubs that passed on their academy players which can happen, it's probably healthy for the competition but at the end of the day we were comfortable with how many numbers we had in the players we had rated and ultimately we had ranked Riak (Andrew) pretty high in our rankings and that persuaded our decision."