AHMED Saad has been given the opportunity to resurrect his AFL career with the club he started at, after St Kilda used its second selection in the NAB AFL Rookie Draft to give him another chance.
The former Saint has been training on his own since being suspended for 18 months for taking a banned substance.
He was reported to have attracted interest from a few clubs including Collingwood and Carlton, which forced the Saints to act with selection No.19 overall.
The 25-year-old will resume his playing career in 2015 when he is allowed to officially start training in an elite environment at the end of his suspension.
Joining Saad at Seaford as a St Kilda rookie is Oakleigh Chargers/Port Melbourne midfielder Jack Sinclair, who was drafted with the No.1 pick overall.
Sinclair has a close relationship with St Kilda youngster Jack Billings.
There was just one pick used in the NAB AFL Pre-season Draft with Jason Tutt joining Carlton, as expected.
The former Western Bulldog delisted himself last month so he could join former teammate Liam Jones at the Blues.
Greater Western Sydney, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond and the Sydney Swans all elected to pass on their selections.
The former Saint has been training on his own since being suspended for 18 months for taking a banned substance.
He was reported to have attracted interest from a few clubs including Collingwood and Carlton, which forced the Saints to act with selection No.19 overall.
The 25-year-old will resume his playing career in 2015 when he is allowed to officially start training in an elite environment at the end of his suspension.
Joining Saad at Seaford as a St Kilda rookie is Oakleigh Chargers/Port Melbourne midfielder Jack Sinclair, who was drafted with the No.1 pick overall.
Sinclair has a close relationship with St Kilda youngster Jack Billings.
They also picked up Western Jets forward Brenton Payne and veteran forward Adam Schneider, who was delisted for list management purposes at the end of the season.
A third chance at an AFL career was handed to former Port Adelaide and Gold Coast half forward Nathan Krakouer at Alberton.
Krakouer walked out on the Power in 2010 and joined the Suns on a three-year deal but quit the club for personal reasons at the end of 2011 after 13 games.
After an impressive season in the SANFL for the Port Adelaide Magpies, he now has the chance to add to his 53 AFL games as a Power rookie.
Other discarded AFL players who were gifted a fresh start were Adelaide's Shaun McKernan, North Melbourne’s Cameron Delaney, Carlton's Kane Lucas, Hawthorn's Jordan Kelly and the Brisbane Lions' Andrew Raines.
McKernan joined Essendon despite training with the Saints after being delisted, Delaney joined Geelong, Lucas went to West Coast, Kelly to the Western Bulldogs and Raines an hour down the road to Gold Coast.
Jared Petrenko and Jeremy Taylor, who also trained with the Saints after being dumped by Adelaide and Gold Coast, were not picked up as were the likes of ex-Essendon defender Kyle Hardingham, Melbourne's Luke Tapscott and Geelong's George Burbury and Jordan Schroder.
Tony Armstrong (Collingwood), Kurt Aylett (Essendon), Tom Logan (Port Adelaide), Matt Arnot (Richmond), Robbie Nahas (North Melbourne), Sam Grimley (Hawthorn), Greg Broughton (Gold Coast) and Brett Goodes and Daniel Pearce (Western Bulldogs) were rookied by the clubs they were at this year.
Coburg best and fairest defender Adam Saad, 20, finally found his way onto an AFL list with the Suns inspired enough by his move into defence this year to recruit him with pick No.25.
Adelaide took promising tall defender Keenan Ramsey, who only has one eye, with its second pick – No.27 overall.
After the Saints used pick No.1 to take Sinclair, Melbourne surprised with the little-known Aaron Vandenberg from Ainslie with the second selection.
The Giants passed at No.3 – opting not to take any rookies after adding six players to their list last week – before the Lions took Bendigo Pioneers midfielder Billy Evans with the fourth selection.
Calder Cannons youngster Roarke Smith joined the Bulldogs next to round out the top five.
Billy Gowers, son of 1991 Hawthorn premiership player Andrew, joined Carlton at No.6 while Josh Glenn found his way to the Suns next a year after electing to pull out of the draft pool.
The Hawks added some romance to the occasion by drafting Lachlan Langford – brother of 2014 premiership player Will and son of champion Hawks' full back Chris – with their third pick.
Two other sons of former AFL players were also drafted. Tom Fields, son of Essendon and South Melbourne's Neville, went to Carlton, and Jake Long joined Essendon, where his father Michael played 190 games.
The former Western Bulldog delisted himself last month so he could join former teammate Liam Jones at the Blues.
Greater Western Sydney, Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond and the Sydney Swans all elected to pass on their selections.
