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WHO IS Adelaide first-round draft pick Tom Doedee? According to Geelong Falcons talent manager Mick Turner, Adelaide has secured the best one-on-one defender at this year's TAC Cup.
The Crows pulled off the shock of the first round when they selected the relatively unknown defender with pick No.17 at the NAB AFL Draft.
AFL.com.au's draft guru Callum Twomey had Doedee in calculations for Melbourne's third pick, which was No.45 before academy and father-son bids.
Turner tipped he would be drafted somewhere between pick No.30 and 40.
Where's he come from?
He sat out the Falcons' 2014 pre-season to concentrate on his basketball career – hoping for a possible scholarship in the US.
The club told the then 17-year-old to chase his dream, but that he was welcome back if it didn't go to plan.
He returned for the 2015 pre-season, although a leg injury restricted his training until last Christmas.
Turner said Doedee's form and ability was evident from the first practice match he played and continued to grow rapidly.
How does he play?
He's raw, but his intense competitiveness means his one-on-one work is excellent.
In Turner's eyes he was one of the only defenders in Victoria's premier under-18 competition to appear comfortable against Eastern Rangers goal machine (and Hawthorn draftee) Blake Hardwick, who booted 56 majors in 16 games.
Doedee is an incredibly gifted athlete and tested inside the top 10 at the NAB AFL Draft Combine for relative vertical leap and agility.
"A lot of people who follow the TAC Cup reckon he's the best one-on-one defender in the TAC Cup," Turner told AFL.com.au.
"He used to play on Blake Hardwick who got drafted to Hawthorn, he was one of the very few players I could see controlling him.
"The upside to him is he hasn't been in football for long, he's very athletic and he's got a lot of scope for development.
"Adelaide, it's just a complete list management decision that they need a good one-on-one athletic defender that can play on small and talls and that's Tom Doedee – they've got a good player."
Controversial?
The Crows overlooked a number of highly touted local boys to secure Doedee.
Talented North Adelaide forward Ryan Burton was still available (taken by Hawthorn at pick No. 19), as were a number of other South Australian products.
It's not the first time Adelaide has stuck to its guns and snubbed a South Aussie for a Victorian either. When Patrick Dangerfield was selected at pick No.10 in 2007 instead of Brad Ebert there was uproar in the City of Churches.
Like Doedee, Dangerfield was also a Falcons player and while he's now back in Geelong, the Crows got some serious service out of the explosive midfielder.
"He's a good pick – when Adelaide took Patty Dangerfield instead of [Brad] Ebert, everyone was jumping up and down in Adelaide – that worked out all right for them, didn't it?" Turner said.
