David King believes Melbourne should consider an aggressive pursuit of pick 1 at the end of the year.
The Demons have the firepower to potentially make a trade for the top selection, boasting, as things currently stand, pick 5 (tied to Fremantle), pick 17, pick 23 (tied to Fremantle) and pick 35.
This year’s number one draft prospect is Harley Reid out of the Bendigo Pioneers, who has been compared to a young Dustin Martin.
King believes a trade of picks 5, 17 and 23 would be enough to land pick 1 and would be a great move for the Demons given Tasmania and compromised drafts are looming.
“This year Harley Reid is the one. They reckon it’s daylight to second and the draft falls away significantly, according to the draft guns,” the Kangaroos great told SEN Breakfast.
“You’ve got this next period coming up with Tasmania where you’re going to lose the draft impact with the concessions that will be given to the new team – we’ve seen this before.
“If they could, do you agree that teams should trade heavily for pick one this year? At the moment they’ve got picks 5, 17 and 23. If they gave all that up for pick 1, regardless of who finishes last, would you do that if you were Melbourne to have the best youngster ready to go in say 60 games time to give you an opportunity when all your guns are 30 and nobody can really get better through the draft being compromised.
“Is it the time for Melbourne to get aggressive and try and get to pick one?”
Kane Cornes likes the idea, believing that the Demons have already stocked up on younger players in recent years, allowing them some flexibility.
“I think I would. That’s my immediate answer. They already used pick 13 from Fremantle last year. They’ve got some good young players and they’ve just re-signed Kysaiah Pickett,” Cornes said.
“If you can get a teenager of that quality, and again I haven’t seen him play, but if pick 1 is that much better than pick 5 … but the question is whether West Coast or North or Hawthorn would do that.”
King believes the package of picks may be preferable for the current bottom sides.
“West Coast at the moment has pick one and then they’ve also got 19 and 32. They would end up with picks 5, 17, 19, 23 and 32 (if they traded with Melbourne). Four picks inside 25. They probably need that more than one player,” he said.
“Hawthorn would end up with 5, 17, 23 and 27. That’s pretty good.
“North Melbourne would end up with 5, 14, 17 and 23, but also if the Ben McKay was to leave and the cost of his next contract is high enough, they might end up with another top five pick.
“Do they need that more than just the one player? That’s my question.”