We spoke with Collingwood recruiting manager Derek Hine to gather his thoughts on the 2008 NAB AFL Rookie Draft...

“We’re pleased with the boys that we’ve been able to bring to the club.
Our methodology leading into the draft is to look at areas that we can potentially address but at the same time look at players who we feel are going to have the potential to go on and play senior football and potentially be elevated at some point in time.

We look at different players and what they can bring to the list.
All the boys that were brought in, not only in the national but also the rookie draft, will put pressure on certain areas of our list.

We’ve had a fair degree of success in the rookie draft in the last three years. We’ve been able to elevate seven players off our rookie list onto our primary list, so it’s draft that we really do take seriously.”

Selection No.11: Tristan Francis
Gippsland Power, midfielder/forward, 181cm, 77kg (August 15, 1989)
“Tristan is coming off a knee injury. He was a mature-age player or a 19-year-old playing in the TAC Cup this year.

He’s a midfielder who does go forward and has played a lot in defence as well, so he’s multi-dimensional. One of his traits is he’s very aggressive at the ball and he gives us a real strength and hardness around the football. He can go back and play a defensive role, not dissimilar to the way Campbell Brown plays and he’s very strong overhead, so yeah we think he could play multiple positions for us.”

Selection No.27: Jaryd Blair
Gippsland Power, small midfielder, 172cm, 70kg (April 14, 1990)
“Jarryd led the [TAC Cup] competition in possessions and effective disposals, so he’s just a natural player.

He only stands 172, 173cm so he’s small in stature but the way that he plays the game we think that he’s potentially got the ability to actually go in and play in the midfield. He needs to obviously put on a little bit more size but he’s been able to demonstrate in the TAC that he’s an elite midfielder. If he was another two or three centimetres taller … he would have been drafted.”

Selection No.42: Johnny Bennell
Peel Thunder, small forward/midfielder, 174cm, 71kg (February 1, 1990)
“John Bennell is 175, 176cm and has been playing senior footy with Peel Thunder.

He’s supremely athletic in terms of his jump. We’re mindful of the fact that Leon (Davis) is going to push up the ground a little bit more this year.

Johnny can come in and he can play a small forward role and he’s played up on the wing for Peel, while we also think he’s got some scope to go down and play as a small defender as well.

His speed is terrific so he could potentially go back and take those small forwards.”

Selection No.56: Toby Thoolen
Collingwood, ruckman/key position, 196cm, 94kg (February 23, 1990)
“Toby we took last year as a 17-year-old and we obviously had to commit to the two years to Toby. It was a big decision for us to delist him originally but what we were able to do with him, fortunately, is get him back onto the list via the rookie draft. He’s come back to training very well, his skinfolds are down and he’s really attacked his pre-season in a positive sense. The way that he’s come back, he deserves another chance.”

Selection No.69: Lachlan Keeffe (3rd year non-registered rookie)
NSW, ruckman, 204cm, 87kg, (April 14, 1990)
“Lachlan Keeffe is a pre-registered rookie who comes from a soccer background and who obviously hadn’t played the game.

He’s a 204cm developing ruckman. He’s been able to be at the club for all of 2008 which has been an enormous advantage for us as he was doing a traineeship here after finishing school the year before. He started to learn his craft by playing in under-19s in the amateurs competition and he ended up playing the last three or four games.

He’s really starting to put some weight on, he’s extremely athletic … we’re very pleased with the way Lachie’s coming along.”

Selection No.78: Scott Reed (NSW Scholarship rookie)
Pennant Hills, key position, 192cm, 80kg (October 3, 1990)
“Scott Reed’s a gift for us, there’s no doubt. For us to bring him on in the rookie draft with our last selection, or as a NSW rookie, it gives us the scope to have picked an extra player in the national draft and also an extra player in the rookie draft.

We obviously rated him as a draftable player but because of list management issues we were able to go about it the way we did, but Scotty’s settled in really well, he’s put on weight and yeah, we’re quite excited about Scott’s future.”