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Tom Scully recieves his jumper from Melbourne coach Dean Bailey during the 2009 NAB AFL Draft at the Plenary, Melbourne Convention Centre
Last night marked the first year of the national draft’s inevitable move from the virtual oblivion of a Saturday morning to the bright lights of a primetime Thursday night slot. And if last night was anything to go by, it’ll be the first of many.
It wasn’t perfect. There were glitches and awkward moments, like you would expect. Fox Sports could have given more attention to picks beyond the first round.
But all things considered, last night was a welcome break from the tedium of the warmer months.
We got to see Melbourne end up with a swag of promising young talent. They were always going to look like the big winners on draft night.
Tom Scully, the highly-rated midfielder from the Dandenong Stingrays, became the latest young lad to be given the title of number one draft pick. He handled his interview with confidence and gave no reason for Melbourne fans to be disappointed.
The Dees selected the similarly-rated South Australian prospect Jack Trengove at pick two. They also did well to land Jordan Gysberts and Luke Tapscott with picks 11 and 18.
Then there was the human headline of the last few months, Luke Ball.
The former St Kilda player had nominated Collingwood as his club of choice, warning off other sides. Several clubs threatened to call his bluff.
In the end, Ball ended up falling to pick 30 and the Magpies. The others decided not to take the gamble.
Richmond ended up with seven new draftees, the pick of the bunch being ball magnet Dustin Martin. The only downside is he’ll probably get lumped with Trent Cotchin-esque expectations.
Midfielders were definitely in vogue early on, with Fremantle landing Anthony Morabito with pick four and North Melbourne nabbing Ben Cunnington a pick later.
Port Adelaide also had a bit of a splash, thanks them having two first-round picks, and they weren’t afraid to go tall. With those picks they grabbed John Butcher and Andrew Moore.
In terms of recycled players, Matt Maguire found a new home at Brisbane, Rhan Hooper is off to Hawthorn and both Jesse Smith and Adam Pattison will go to perennial recyclers St Kilda.
Of course, as was expected, the evening was somewhat spoilt by the AFL’s dumbfounding decision to reveal the top ten selections in reverse order.
In the search for some kind of climax, the countdown idea ended up taking a lot of the suspense out of the first round. One of the most exciting aspects of drafts for supporters is seeing which players can “slip” to your club’s pick.
That element was sadly missing last night.
On the whole, however, we shouldn’t be too critical of the league. They took the overdue step of moving to primetime and, relatively speaking, it worked.
Now the focus turns to next year. To Scully and the new-look Demons, to the likes of Morabito and Cunnington, and to the likes of Collingwood and Brisbane and their new mature-age recruits.
2010 is already promising to be a cracking season. Last night gave us more reasons to be excited.