Geelong midfielder Paddy Dangerfield believes potential number one draft selection Sam Walsh could be a star of the competition going forward.
Walsh, who many believe will be taken first overall by Carlton, spent time training with the Cats earlier in the year and impressed Dangerfield.
“Only because I’ve spent a little bit of time with Sam Walsh, I wouldn’t be handing (pick one) over for anything,” Walsh told SEN’s Time On.
“To be honest, I don’t know too many of the other players in the draft and I hear really good things about Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine out of South Australia, but Sammy Walsh is a player I think is going to play 15-plus years of footy.
“He will lead a football club at some stage, I believe. So I’d be doing everything I possibly could to secure him.”
The AFLPA president said Walsh immediately clicked in AFL conditions when he was given the opportunity earlier in the year.
“He spent a week at our footy club through that AFL academy and he wouldn’t have looked out of place playing AFL footy this year I don’t think.
“I look at him, and I didn’t play with Joel Selwood when he was 17, but I see a lot of similarities.
“He’s a very driven individual and carries himself extremely well. On the track, even though he’s physically not as developed as he will be in a few years time, but he would’ve played AFL this season for most football clubs.
“He was comfortable in our environment really quickly – in an environment that is incredibly daunting because you’re training with AFL players and mixing with people that go out there and play AFL every week and he looked right at home from the very beginning.
“He’s going to be a very special player for a very long period of time.”
Dangerfield’s team Geelong will enter the draft at pick 12.