Collingwood has announced it has secured highly sought after 202-centimetre Queenslander Lachlan Keeffe as a pre-selected rookie for the 2009 season.

The 17-year-old who hails from Gympie - about 160 kilometres north of Brisbane – has mainly a soccer background, and has been signed under a rule established by the AFL to give clubs the opportunity to pre-list unregistered players.

Collingwood’s national recruiting manager Derek Hine explained to collingwoodfc.com.au how the club was able to secure Keeffe, who is not currently registered with an Australian rules club, but is regarded as a player with enormous potential.

“What we’ve been able to do with not only the national pathway, and I think it’s been demonstrated in the way we’ve tackled Ireland and also New South Wales, is that we’ve looked at other opportunities and possibilities in terms of bringing a player into the football club which is going to create some certainty for us,” a delighted Hine said.

“So what we do, we look at players from alternative sports, and it’s a program that we’ve had in place for quite a period of time now, and it’s really well structured.

“I suppose in Lachlan’s case, he’s the first player we’ve brought in from Australia, and he comes in under the rule where we can previously list a unregistered player."

“We followed Lachlan via the private schools soccer competition, he was identified playing for Marist College back in early May this year, which gave us the opportunity to follow his progress.”

Keeffe, who Hine says comes from a “wonderful, tremendously supportive family”, has since been closely monitored by the Collingwood recruiting team, with the club getting confirmation of his commitment last Friday.

“It’s a rule associated to the rookie draft, not dissimilar to Martin Clarke and Kevin Dyas, where we were able to pre-list a player prior to that draft,” added Hine.

“We have written approval from the AFL prior to that particular draft that we can pre-list this particular player, and he will come on as our last pick in that draft.

“We can develop the boy in the knowledge that he is definitely our player and that he will come to us.”

Keeffe attended an Australian Institute of Sport camp for emerging young AFL footballers earlier this month, and having played as a soccer midfielder, his aerobic capacity and running ability are considered outstanding for someone his size.

“I watched Lachlan play in a game up at the AIS, being mindful it was only four by 10 minute quarters, and it was against the best 30 players of his age group in Australia, and Lachlan had only played three or four games (of Australian rules football) prior to that, it was very encouraging.

“He was able to work hard to space, all of those soccer traits came out, he was virtually improving by the minute, so we’re very encouraged.

“He’s a terrific athlete. I think that the area that was really encouraging us, apart from his obvious physical attributes, Lachlan’s father Matthew is tall and is a nice shape, we think that Lachlan, at 202 centimetres, has really got the scope to grow more."

While Keeffe and his family had to seriously consider offers from a number of AFL clubs, Hine said the Magpies put a huge amount of work into ensuring it was the right decision for the club.

“It’s not a decision we make lightly, because we have already committed to his spot now, just a little under 12 months away.

“We’ve worked on this for a long period of time, and it’s a decision we made based on a huge amount of analysis, both from a playing perspective and a psychological perspective.”

It also addresses a need from a list management perspective.

“I suppose the one area of our list that was missing was a young, developing ruckman, and we feel that Lachlan will fill that need.”