Matt Rendell has revealed that some recruiters believe this year’s draft crop is a “bit disappointing” at this stage.
Collingwood father-son prospect Nick Daicos is widely considered to be this year’s top draft pick, while Sam Darcy – son of Bulldogs great Luke – has shown strong recent form and could be taken in the top three of the draft.
Rendell, who used to be a recruiter, said the depth in this year’s National Draft had suffered as a result of several promising targets being taken during the mid-season draft.
He said the lack of continuity so far this season has seen some players struggle to put a consistent run of strong games together at NAB League level.
“The other thing that has happened in the mid-season draft, all the tall (players) have been taken out,” he said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“Four or five ruckmen and a key position player were taken out, Jackson Callow could have been taken high in the draft.
“A bit has changed for the draft, a lot of the blokes that I thought would be higher are struggling a bit.
“Jason Horne is still there, Nick Daicos is still there and Sam Darcy has jumped up, I thought Josh Sinn would be a top three pick, but he’s just come back from injury. He’s a rangy left footer and in the Ed Richards mould, but he’s probably a bit better than Ed.
“Finn Callaghan is nearly identical to (Josh) Sinn and he’s had a great year, he’s a left-footer and a hard-running midfielder.
“It’s been a bit disappointing the recruiters are saying, the (national underage) championships are starting very shortly so we’ll get a good gauge on it.
“They’ve been hurt on the four weeks off for the players to go back to school and local clubs and then they played one game, then ran into three weeks of lockdown.
“It’s been very different for the under 18s, so hopefully they can get some continuity later in the year.”