ESSENDON will have to ride its luck in the mid-season draft lottery if it is to nab a second Tipungwuti on Monday.
AFL.com.au understands the Bombers unsuccessfully lobbied the AFL to have priority access to Tiwi Islander Adam Tipungwuti in the upcoming NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft.
The Tiwi Islands are part of Essendon's Next Generation Academy zone.
>> The 2019 NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft will be broadcast LIVE on AFL.com.au, the AFL Live Official App and Fox Footy from 6:30pm AEST on Monday, May 27
That would have enabled the Bombers to select Tipungwuti – cousin of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti – without the risk of a rival club, such as North Melbourne, swooping on the zippy NT Thunder talent.
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Gold Coast and Hawthorn are among the other clubs to express an interest in the 22-year-old, who was part of Brisbane's Academy as a teenager.
Multiple clubs requested for Tipungwuti to be medically examined and he was one of 25 mid-season draft hopefuls at AFL House on Wednesday.
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The AFL knocked back Sydney on a similar request for father-son prospect Kyle Dunkley, with the concessions available in other forms of the draft not applying to the mid-season version.
Tipungwuti is still no certainty to be selected on Monday, given his light stature at 175cm and 65kg, along with him completing most of his training on his own on the Tiwi Islands.
There is still no certainty the diminutive Adam Tipungwuti will be drafted. Picture: Felicity Elliott/AFLNT Media
There is a suspicion he won't be ready to play in the AFL until after he has gone through a pre-season at the highest level.
However, Tipungwuti's transferrable traits in speed, clean ball-handling and X-factor around goals might make him too irresistible to pass on.
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West Coast considered drafting him two years ago and kept close tabs on him last year as well, while he also attracted attention from Greater Western Sydney and Geelong recruiters.
The Eagles and Cats are well known for picking Northern Territory prospects.
Making Tipungwuti's situation more interesting is the Kangaroos' heightened interest in Werribee forward Jake Riccardi, a former Calder Cannon showing promise.
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Essendon was also strongly linked to South Fremantle midfielder Marlion Pickett, but he is set to miss up to 10 weeks after re-breaking a finger on Saturday that had delayed his season.
The Bombers could select multiple players and are in the market for a ruckman since young big man Sam Draper's season-ending ACL rupture.
It is believed Michael Knoll and Oliver Eastland are two ruckmen Essendon has monitored, while Riley Bowman was brought into the Bombers' VFL team on Saturday.
>> The 2019 NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft will be broadcast LIVE on AFL.com.au, the AFL Live Official App and Fox Footy from 6:30pm AEST on Monday, May 27
