Essendon pick talls as injury cover in mid-season draft
Steve Larkin |
Essendon have picked two towering talls in a bid for a mid-season draft cure to their injury woes.
The injury-hit Bombers were the busiest club with four selections at Wednesday night’s mid-season rookie draft.
While 10 clubs with no vacant list spot didn’t have a pick, the Bombers went hard to address a concerning injury list featuring 10 players who are 190cm or taller.
Essendon picked Archie May, a 198cm-tall forward from WAFL club Subiaco, with its first selection and pick six overall.
The Bombers followed by taking 203cm ruckman Lachlan Blakiston from East Fremantle (pick 13).
Essendon then promoted small goalsneak Oscar Smart from their VFL outfit and plucked forward Liam McMahon, who was Carlton’s VFL captain.
West Coast, with the first pick of the draft, signed Tom McCarthy from Richmond’s VFL ranks.
Just two years ago, the 24-year-old was playing division two amateurs in Victoria’s Southern League.
“I’ve definitely come from kind of nowhere,” McCarthy said.
“”I feel so privileged that I’ll get to live my dream … I’m super pumped to get started.”
North Melbourne used pick two on Werribee small forward Zac Banch, who in round six equalled the all-time VFL record for score assists with eight.
“He gets up the ground and then he’s a bit of a handful when he’s streaming back to goal,” North’s recruiting manager Will Thursfield said.
“He’s very clean, he’s very crafty, he doesn’t need much time to make his decisions and he’s a very nice kick of the footy.”
Port selected towering 202cm defender Harrison Ramm from reigning SANFL premiers Glenelg at pick four.
Another Werribee product, Flynn Young, was taken by Carlton at pick five and Glenelg lost another key backman when Oscar Allen, who has previously been on St Kilda’s list, joined Gold Coast at pick seven.
Collingwood chose utility Roan Steele from West Perth, while West Coast added SANFL outfit Norwood’s Jacob Newton with pick nine.
The Kangaroos signed Cooper Trembath from their VFL ranks to round out the top 10, as 18 players were selected overall.
Experienced AFL duo Adam Tomlinson and Brandon Parfitt were overlooked.
AAP
