North Melbourne came away from the 2022 National Draft with quite a strong haul.
The Kangaroos picked up Harry Sheezel and George Wardlaw with picks 3 and 4 - a result that almost every draft expert expected.
Plenty has been said and written about Sheezel and Wardlaw but less is known about their third selection, Brayden George, who fell to the Roos at 26.
The Murray Bushrangers talent was touted as a potential top-10 draft pick before he was struck down by an ACL injury.
That scenario pushed him back in most draft ratings, but the Roos still held him in high regard and GM of footy Brady Rawlings admits the club was delighted he got through to the second round.
Rawlings described George as a “powerful unit” who “hits the scoreboard for fun”.
“Going into this season, I think the whole competition would have been excited by what Brayden could do, albeit with not a lot of exposure from COVID (years),” Rawlings said on SEN’s Sportsday.
“He’s a really powerful unit. If he wasn’t injured, I would have thought he’d probably top the goalkicking this year at NAB League level. He hits the scoreboard for fun.
“He can win it in the air and at ground level and he’s a ready-made body.
“We had him still rated up really highly despite the injury but he probably would have been up even higher if it wasn’t for the ACL, no doubt.”
George, a dangerous half-forward, kicked 18 goals in eight NAB League games before his season-ending injury which will force him to miss most of 2023 as well.
North also drafted Cooper Harvey, son of club great Brent, with pick 56 in the National Draft before adding Wardlaw’s Oakleigh Chargers teammate Blake Drury in the Rookie Draft on Wednesday.
Rawlings explained why the club went young with their first rookie selection before providing opportunities to some more mature-age players.
“We were committed to taking Cooper with our last pick in the draft but Blake was on our National Draft order,” he added.
“Given we had four rookie spots there, we decided to go with youth first even though we’d probably (initially) go with four mature players. We ended up going one youth and three more mature.
“Blake is a really driven young man. He’s going to do everything it takes to succeed, so he’s really what the rookie list is about with those guys who do whatever it takes to forge a career.
“We’re glad to give him an opportunity.”
North also took Western Australian tall Hamish Free (pick 19) and former Hawthorn midfielder Daniel Howe (pick 33) in the Rookie Draft while re-listing Kayne Turner.