Former Hawthorn recruiting manager Gary Buckenara has spoken about the 2005 draft strategies which helped build the foundations for Hawthorn’s modern premiership-winning era.
While talking on SEN Afternoons, Buckenara opened up about the discussions he had with current coach Alistair Clarkson and former Hawthorn GM of Football Operations John Hook leading up to the historic draft 12 years ago that landed Jarryd Roughead, Lance Franklin and Jordan Lewis.
Upon commencement on Clarkson’s appointment as Hawthorn senior coach, it was pretty clear what he wanted from his first national draft in charge, and he let both Buckenara and Hook know without hesitation.
“When he (Clarkson) got appointed he said ‘Look, I really want us to get two key position players and a midfielder’”, Buckenara said.
Discussions then proceeded on trade week, when both Gary and John wanted to trade up from pick 10 as he had an eye for Jordan Lewis and thought he was not going to remain on the board at that selection. They eventually struck a deal with Collingwood, receiving No.7 and Bo Nixon for pick 10 and pick 37.
“We did our intel. John Hook and I were at the trading period and I thought we really like Jordan Lewis but we weren’t going to get him at pick 10, so he did a great and got us to pick seven which got him”, Buckenara explained.
“After the draft we were really pleased with our outcome and how it worked out getting down from pick 10 to pick seven, which was a great deal by John Hook that allowed us to get Jordan Lewis, and we found out we wouldn’t have gotten Lewis with ten so that made us feel even better.”
Buckenara said the next step was to come up with a strategy that would deliver Clarkson with the two key position players he was asking for.
“I thought ‘how are we going to get Roughead and Franklin, the two best tall key positions’, and we knew Richmond were going to take Roughead with pick four”, Buckenara said.
“Obviously they took Deledio with pick one, but we knew they’ve invited Roughead to the President’s welcome, so if we had taken Franklin first we wouldn’t have got Roughead. So we took a punt and ‘Roughie’ was always going to be a really good player and a safe pick.”
When analysing Franklin’s draft stock, Buckenara said he never doubted his football abilities, but had uncertainties surrounding his ability to transition into a professional footballer. This further persuaded both him and Hook to select Roughead with the second pick and hope that Franklin was still there three spots later.
“Buddy had a few issues and question marks. Would he be able to cope with the AFL environment? No doubting his talent, and we sort of heard intel that Richmond had slightly gone off him, and so we took the punt and took Roughead with two”, Buckenara said.
It was then a waiting game, as their fate was in the hands of Richmond with their fourth selection.
“We knew (Brett) Deledio would go at one, we went Roughead two, we knew the Bulldogs were taking Ryan Griffin at three, and then the question mark. So we had to wait for Richmond’s pick and they went Richard Tambling and we called out Lance Franklin”, Buckenara said.
“If Tambling and Lewis were still there (at pick seven), we maybe would’ve gone Tambling due to his pace.
“That was a pretty good start for Clarko, as those three players sort of became pillars for the side to be built around.
“Next best tall which would’ve been Tom Williams, and he ended up going I think pick six to the Bulldogs.”
Roughead, Franklin and Lewis won 11 premierships between them, and have been widely regarded as the best first-round draft trio for one club in AFL history.