Port adds four
Port Adelaide believes it has complimented its recent trade negotiations with the recruiting of four youngsters in Saturday's NAB AFL Draft held at Telstra Dome
Port Adelaide believes it has complimented its recent trade negotiations with the recruiting of four youngsters in Saturday's NAB AFL Draft held at Telstra Dome.The Power appeared to target talls and defenders when selecting their four new players, which in the eyes of national recruiting manager Mick Moylan, completes the package that began formation in the October trade period."I think (we're fulfilled our requirements) if you factor in the trade component of it and bringing in (Daniel) Motlop and (Nathan) Lonie as two middle-20 players who've played a least 50-odd plus games," Moylan said."In essence, if you consider that pick 14, our first round pick, was part of that whole deal, I think that's the package that we're looking at."The Power snared the services of defenders Nick Lower (Norwood) and Alipate Carlile (Murray Bushrangers), and developing ruckmen/forwards Hugh Minson (Norwood) and Jonathon Giles (Central Districts) in Saturday's draft.The club decided to pass on their final selection, which could be a solid move by the Power considering Moylan said there was a lot of quality players remaining in the pre-season and rookie drafts.Moylan said the selection of the big defenders came as a result of the club identifying the aging of players such as Darryl Wakelin, and that Carlile particularly impressed with his rock-solid ability on the backline."(Carlile's) a big bodied defender who we identified as being one of the few lads that we've seen regularly play in the last line of defence over the last two seasons, and we think there's tremendous upside in him in terms of just his growth and development ," Moylan said.The club's recruiting manager also admitted the direction Power headed in the later stages of the draft was somewhat dictated by where the remaining available players resided."At that particular age, in 17-year-olds moving away from home to another state is a big challenge, and we feel that because they're already settled in a SAFL club that's an assistance to them," Moylan said."I guess you're looking and saying they will settle better and that may give you a far better indication of their development progress."