ESSENDON emerged from the 2008 NAB AFL Draft with a good spread of talented youngsters across several positions, which brought a smile to recruiting manager Adrian Dodoro's face on Saturday.

The Bombers had a definite leaning towards the Northern Knights' talent program, with their first three of draftees – Michael Hurley, David Zaharakis and Michael Still – hailing from the TAC Cup club, with South Aussie Tyson Slattery rounding out the group.
 
"We predicted it pretty tightly actually, it was amazing that the numbers fell the way we thought they would a lot closer than they did in previous years," Dodoro said of how the draft played out.

"Along the way we just picked the best player available. We're really happy with the balance of positions we addressed, not forgetting that we picked up Brent Prismall during trade week.

"We picked up two key position players in Hurley and Still, a midfielder in Zaharakis and a real quality utility in Slattery, so we're happy that we've got a good balance.

Hurley has long been the top-rated tall defender in the draft and Dodoro agreed the Bombers' defence had received a significant boost with his addition.

"Michael has been an All-Australian in the last two years and we felt with our succession planning that he fitted our needs really well," he said.

"We thought he was the best player at pick five so we selected him."

Zaharakis was eligible for last year's draft and was considered unlucky not to get picked up according to Dodoro.

"He was one of the guys we were looking at late in the draft last year. We've kept an eye on his progress and he's improved dramatically this year," he said.

"We rated David in the middle of the first round so to get him was excellent for us. He's one that we pinned our hopes on getting at 23 so we're very happy."

Slattery broke through to play senior SANFL football this year under Andy Collins with the coach glowing in his review.

"I was speaking to Andy during the week and he's a huge wrap for this kid," Dodoro said.

"He can play in a number of positions and is a very tough player. He's got an excellent constitution and leadership and he's just one of those guys that you love to have at your club."

The onset of two new teams in the next few years had a lot to do with the drafting of youngster Still.

"Michael is a good height, he takes a good contested mark, he's bottom-aged – he's probably one of the youngest boys in the draft – and we just wanted to take a young player and bank him for the future," he said.

"Having said that he's definitely got the potential to play AFL football and with the Gold Coast and Western Sydney coming in the next few years we felt we had to take some of these boys a little bit earlier than what they may have done previously.

"He's certainly one for the future and we're very happy to have him."

The Dons will have the third pick overall in the pre-season draft after passing on their last pick at 79.

"We just felt, looking at the numbers, that there's a big pool of players that we'd like to have a look at, so we're in a pretty strong position to take another player," Dodoro explained.

"We've got a number of names that we'll be looking at, so we've got an open mind at the moment."