GEELONG Talent ID Manager Troy Selwood has revealed the Cats weren’t expecting Jordan Clark to be available by the time the club’s first selection rolled around in November last year.

Selwood told the official Geelong Cats podcast To the Final Bell that it wasn’t until the day of the draft that the possibility of the young gun being available began to arise.

“You do have a fair indication of what’s probably going to happen in the first round. The player managers do a good job of trying to sniff out information from the clubs and then go and share that with the other clubs,” Selwood said.

“Jordy for us was a kid that we did think was going to be gone.

“Probably about 12 hours before the draft we just started hearing some murmurs that potentially he could be available.

Having already done their research on the dashing young defender in the leadup to the draft, the Cats made just a few phone calls before jumping at the chance to land the West-Australian with pick 15.

“We’d already done all our work on Clarky and we were really happy with that selection if it fell through,” Selwood said.

“The amount of work you do behind the scenes, not just talking to the player and his family but the people around them, is really important. I value that so much, whether that be school teachers, coaches, talent managers, mentors.

“You can actually get a good gauge on the character and the resilience of a player. -Troy Selwood on player background checks

 “We did make a few calls the afternoon of (the draft), just to double check with Jordan and his family that if it was the Cats, that he’d be really comfortable to come and be a player here for the long term, which he couldn’t be more rapt about.

The Cats’ investment in Clark appears to be paying dividends, with the defender showing plenty of promise in the first five games of the year before being managed against the Eagles in round 6.

Clark also allayed any fears that his mind was elsewhere by signing a two-year contract extension in early April.

“Any kid that moves to Geelong and the Geelong footy club, very rarely do you ever see them want to leave the place,” Selwood said.

“We can back our club, our culture and our program that once the kids are here, they’re just going to love it and going to want to be Cats players for the long term.

“The only time they leave is usually for further opportunities at other clubs and Tim Kelly’s situation is obviously a lot more complex than others.

You can listen to Troy Selwood speak on To the Final Bell from the 32 minute mark in the player below.