Only three times in the past decade has Essendon gone into the National Draft with selections lower than the number-six selection it will take into the 2004 version. In 1996 Essendon used its number two selection to pick up Chris Heffernan and it picked up Daniel McAlister with its number five selection. In 1994 Essendon had selection number four when Scott Lucas became a Bomber. So it will be a selection Essendon will want to use wisely come November 23rd.

The worth of the draft selection that was traded along with Mark Alvey in exchange for Danny Jacobs, is heightened with the general consensus among recruiters that clubs need to get in early to ensure they will get a readymade player. The Bombers have the added bonus of selection 13 with its next two selections coming at 28 and 44.

Essendon recruiting manager Adrian Dodoro said this year’s draft would give Essendon the chance to further strengthen its next generation of players. “We have some very good young prospects at this club already – last year we picked up the likes of Jason Winderlich, Jason Laycock, Darren Walsh and Tristan Cartledge and that is a good mix of players who I think are quite exciting,” Dodoro said.

“But now that we have two first-round selections going into this year’s draft, we can really build on that. History shows you that first-round selections play the most senior football so I think we should expect to get a very good player at number six and the type of player we need. Number 13 will also be well above average.”

Dodoro said the selections most likely to go early were predominantly midfielders. “There are a couple of talls in the mix but it really depends on what clubs want – that is the beauty of getting into the draft early, you can pick and choose a bit more,” Dodoro said.