Hawthorn also took a shot duringnegotiations with the Eagles about ex-Hawk Tyler Brockman,with one offer involving the club’s No.4 pick this year,their future first-rounder and Brockman.
Alas,West Coast were unmoved.
“We had a crack at it over a two-,three-day period last week. Unfortunately,we were knocked back a few times,which is fair enough,so it will be interesting to see what happens with that No.1 pick,” McKenzie said. “We’ll keep having a crack. You never know exactly what the priorities are for other footy clubs,[so while] the No.1 pick’s there,we’ll continue to explore it. It’s probably unlikely when you think[about] what we were talking about last week,but never say never.
“We thought we put up some pretty strong deals in the end,but you can understand why they might take pick one and ride it out until early draft night. You want to see what deals come across,and I wouldn’t be surprised if they take the pick,to be honest,but if I was them,I’d probably take it to draft night.”
The first round of the draft order was shaken up during trade period,with Western Bulldogs (up to pick five),Melbourne (11) and Adelaide (14) making the most notable climbs. The Demons also have Fremantle’s No.6 from last year’s Luke Jackson trade,as well as their future first-rounder,so are expected to try to move up again.
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“We’ll all assess our options and see what happens there,but if we can get a little higher in the draft,that would be nice,” Lamb said. “But we’re really thrilled to have six and 11 – we think we’re going to get two really good players there.”
There is an industry-wide view that this year’s draft crop has a particularly strong top end,then a second tier that runs until about the mid-to-late teens before a steep drop-off.
Therefore,clubs are setting a high price if they are to slide down the order.
The Dogs coughed up three first-round selections to nab Gold Coast’s top pick – knowing they were going to match a first-round bid on father-son prospect Jordan Croft – while Melbourne handed over pick 14 and a pair of second-rounders to the Suns to edge up to No.11.
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The Crows’ ended up with the Dees’ No.14 in a separate swap with Gold Coast,who were a popular trade partner as they accumulated draft points to match bids on academy quartetJed Walter,Ethan Read,Jake Rogers and Will Graham.
“We want to improve our hand still. We think we’ve got a pretty good hand,but if we can bring that up a bit higher and potentially use two picks to get up to one[that would be ideal],” Rawlings said.
“It’s just a bit of a tough market to get into … so I don’t think too many are going to move,but all you can do is put things to clubs and see if they entertain it.”
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