RECRUITERS locked away in their bunkers on the second night of the NAB AFL Draft looked on as the club many of them have since playfully started referring to as 'Bidmond' began its raid on rival Academy prospects.
Richmond, the reigning premiers, first bid on Brisbane Lions Academy graduate Noah Cumberland at pick No.43. With its very next selection, it placed another bid on his Academy teammate William Martyn. Both bids were ultimately successful.
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Ten selections later, with pick No.54, Richmond then set its sights on St Kilda's Next Generation Academy member Bigoa Nyuon. Once again, the Tigers got their man.
To some rival recruiters, it was no surprise. Since the new bidding process for Academy and father-son prospects began in 2015, Richmond has forced the most opposition teams to match bids of any side in the League – placing eight bids in five years.
Of course, it is by no means a slight on Richmond. Any club can bid on rival Academy and father-son players – and most have, with Collingwood the only team in the competition yet to do so.
Furthermore, the Tigers now have an impressive 50 percent success rate from their eight bids placed during that period – which is very good in comparison to the rest of the League.
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As well as locking away Cumberland, Martyn and Nyuon last November, it also prized defender Ryan Garthwaite from Greater Western Sydney's Academy in 2016.
However, Matthew Kennedy (GWS Academy) and Eric Hipwood (Brisbane Academy) both slipped through the club's grasp in 2015 – with Richmond unsuccessfully bidding on both, before ultimately snaring Daniel Rioli at pick No.15.
Later in the same draft, it was also unsuccessful in trying to poach St Kilda's father-son talent Bailey Rice. Three years later, it couldn't nab Connor McFadyen from Brisbane's Academy.
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North Melbourne is the League's other big bidders, winning the rights to three of the five players it has tried to poach from rival Academy and father-son programs over the last five years.
The Kangaroos were the great agitators of the 2016 national draft, bidding on Lions Academy prospect Declan Watson, Pies father-son talent Callum Brown and Suns Academy graduate Josh Williams with three successive picks.
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Adelaide, Carlton and Essendon have all bid on four rival Academy and father-son prospects each, though the Crows have the worst success rate of any side in the League – securing none of the four players they have placed bids on so far.
They have been unsuccessful in attempting to snare Harrison Himmelberg (GWS Academy), Harry Perryman (GWS Academy) and Tarryn Thomas (North Melbourne Academy) with first-round bids, as well as Will Kelly (Collingwood father-son) with a second-round bid.
THE BIG BIDDERS – YOUR CLUB'S BIDDING HISTORY
Richmond: 8 bids (4 successful)
Matthew Kennedy (Pick 13, 2015)
Eric Hipwood (Pick 14, 2015)
Bailey Rice (Pick 49, 2015)
Ryan Garthwaite (Pick 72, 2016)
Connor McFadyen (Pick 42, 2018)
Noah Cumberland (Pick 43, 2019)
William Martyn (Pick 44, 2019)
Bigoa Nyuon (Pick 54, 2019)
North Melbourne: 5 bids (3 successful)
Corey Wagner (Pick 43, 2015)
Declan Watson (Pick 34, 2016)
Callum Brown (Pick 35, 2016)
Josh Williams (Pick 36, 2016)
Finn Maginness (Pick 29, 2019)
Adelaide: 4 bids (0 successful)
Harrison Himmelberg (Pick 16, 2015)
Harry Perryman (Pick 14, 2016)
Tarryn Thomas (Pick 8, 2018)
Will Kelly (Pick 29, 2018)
Carlton: 4 bids (1 successful)
Will Setterfield (Pick 5, 2016)
Harrison Macreadie (Pick 47, 2016)
Liam Henry (Pick 9, 2019)
Tom Green (Pick 10, 2019)
Essendon: 4 bids (2 successful)
Jack Silvagni (Pick 53, 2015)
Kobe Mutch (Pick 42, 2016)
Irving Mosquito (Pick 38, 2018)
Keidean Coleman (Pick 37, 2019)
Melbourne: 3 bids (0 successful)
Callum Mills (Pick 3, 2015)
Matthew Flynn (Pick 41, 2015)
Rhylee West (Pick 26, 2018)
Sydney: 3 bids (0 successful)
Jack Bowes (Pick 10, 2016)
Isaac Cumming (Pick 20, 2016)
Jackson Mead (Pick 25, 2019)
GWS Giants: 2 bids (0 successful)
Nick Blakey (Pick 10, 2018)
Isaac Quaynor (Pick 13, 2018)
Western Bulldogs: 2 bids (1 successful)
Ben Keays (Pick 24, 2015)
Josh Dunkley (Pick 25, 2015)
Brisbane: 1 bid (0 successful)
Jarrod Cameron (Pick 39, 2018)
Fremantle: 1 bid (0 successful)
Connor Ballenden (Pick 43, 2017)
Geelong: 1 bid (0 successful)
Bailey Scott (Pick 49, 2018)
Gold Coast: 1 bid (0 successful)
Jacob Hopper (Pick 7, 2015)
Hawthorn: 1 bid (1 successful)
Mathew Walker (Pick 63, 2018)
Port Adelaide: 1 bid (0 successful)
Tyler Brown (Pick 50, 2017)
St Kilda: 1 bid (0 successful)
Patrick Naish (Pick 34, 2017)
West Coast: 1 bid (0 successful)
Kieren Briggs (Pick 34, 2018)
Collingwood: 0 bids
*Successful bids in italics
