"We certainly had a priority we wanted to fill, so we picked the two young kids first in the rookie draft and we're over the moon to get both of them. There was a fair amount of interest in the young fella from Glenelg [Hitchcock], so we picked him first and then Dan we were also very keen to get on our list as well, so it's all worked out very well.
"We've picked a lot of young kids and looked to balance our list up with Scott Harding and also Cameron Cloke. We were very mindful about keeping good, young talented players on our list because in the next years it's going to be very hard to draft those players into your club. We've got seven rookies this year and by having that many rookies and trying to develop them, we're hoping we can supplement our main list over the next couple of years."
Player comments
Selection No.6 (pre-season): Scott Harding
DOB: 19/06/86, Height: 181cm, Weight: 82kg
Recruited from: Brisbane Lions/Morningside (QLD)
"We had an interest in Scott all the way through. He's played a fair amount of footy for the Lions, but probably never been an automatic selection for them. We see him as being able to play both in the midfield and as a small forward for us and that's probably an area we need some extra support in. He's a mature player and he's ready to go."
Rookie draft selection No.12: Cameron Hitchcock
DOB: 3/7/90, Height: 175cm, Weight: 68kg
Recruited from: Glenelg (SA)
"We see Cameron being a dangerous small forward. He's kicked plenty of goals in the SANFL reserves and we see him developing into a goalsneak who likes to put plenty of pressure on the opposition when they've got the ball coming out of defence. He has an uncanny knack of kicking a goal at an important time in the game. You can't have enough players who can kick goals on your list and Cameron is certainly one of those."
Rookie draft selection No.28: Daniel Webb
DOB: 19/06/86, Height: 195cm, Weight: 85kg
Recruited from: West Adelaide (SA)
"Daniel is a late blooming key-position player who can really take a contested mark. He certainly impressed us on the training track here with his intensity and running ability, but his ability to take a strong, pack mark is the key feature of his game. We look forward to seeing him develop on our list as well."
Rookie draft selection No.41: Cameron Cloke
DOB: 19/06/86, Height: 196cm, Weight: 100kg
Recruited from: Carlton/Collingwood/Park Orchards (VIC)
"We did our homework and we suspected Cameron would still be there at pick No.41. We think we've got the younger lighter framed, developing ruckmen, so we wanted to pick a stronger, more competitive and physically stronger ruckman to back up our younger guys. He kicked five goals in the VFL grand final and was a dominant player, so we think he's ready to step up and play. We think he can step up and play in the ruck for us, but really he's a key position player. In the short-term, the back-up ruckman might be where he gets his opportunity."
Rookie draft selection No.54: Glenn Dawson
DOB: 19/06/86, Height: 186cm, Weight: 74kg
Recruited from: Port Adelaide/Woodville-West Torrens (SA)
"Unfortunately, we had to delist Glenn in order to have a pick in the pre-season draft, but we were committed to re-drafting him as a rookie. He's recovering from a bout of glandular fever and he's got a long way to go, but he still has plenty to offer so we're happy to have him back on our list."
Rookie draft selection No.64: Daniel Bass (three-year non-registered player)
DOB: 15/2/87, Height: 198cm, Weight: 100kg
"Daniel's training really well. He's a really interesting case study because physically he's probably more mature than the rest but from a football development point of view he's a long way behind them. Physically, he's very well equipped because he's played four years in the US college basketball system. We certainly don't have high expectations for the coming season, but we think it could be a two-to-three-year development process instead of a four-to-five-year one."
Rookie draft selection No.72: Jordan Johns (NSW Scholarship player)
DOB: 10/06/91, Height: 186cm, Weight: 74kg
Recruited from: South Broken Hill (NSW)
"Jordan has come along well. He played in the U18 National Championships for NSW/ACT and he played really well in that. He did three to four weeks of training with us last year as well, so we've seen a fair bit of him. He's certainly impressed us with his work ethic and he's settling in really well."
