GEELONG recruiting boss Stephen Wells is confident there is a deep talent pool in the upcoming national and rookie drafts.
The Cats won’t enter the national draft until the fourth round, but Wells has no doubt there will still be plenty of quality young players around at that stage.
“I don’t subscribe to the theory [it’s a weak draft],” Wells told geelongcats.com.au. “I think there’ll be some good players right throughout the draft.
“There usually is. In fact, there probably always is.”
“We’ll place a great deal of value on all of our picks, whether it be our first pick in the national draft or our last pick in the rookie draft,” Wells said.
“We’ll be trying to find guys that we think can have a good AFL career.
“I’m sure they’re out there and we’re working hard to try and find them.”
Wells and his team are preparing for a range of possibilities as they plan for the national draft, which will be held in Adelaide on Tuesday, November 24.
“Obviously it’s totally out of our control until we have our first pick, so we just need to be prepared for anything,” he said.
“That’s why we’re doing our work on the guys that are likely to be there.
“There’s not much point in us doing work on Jacob Weitering right now, because he’s simply not going to be there when we have our first pick.
“There’s a group of certainties that won’t be there when we enter the draft, there’s another group of players who are highly unlikely to be there, then there are the players that fall under the category, ‘Who knows?’
“We will have prepared for the draft in a way that we can still make good decisions on the night based on the available talent and the information we’ve got.”
Members of the Cats’ recruiting staff have travelled thousands of kilometres by car and plane since the 2014 draft, as they have endeavoured to uncover players who can help drive the club back up the ladder.
“We’ve been all around the country, watching school footy, senior footy, local footy, reserves footy and junior footy,” Wells said.
“We’ve followed the AFL academy boys to the United States and to New Zealand.
“When ever there’s a game on that we think might showcase a potential AFL player, we’re covering it.
“The recruiting team is spread far and wide most weekends.”
GEELONG’S LIST CHANGES SO FAR IN 2015
Off: Sam Blease (retired), Dean Gore (traded to Adelaide), Steve Johnson (traded to Greater Western Sydney), James Kelly (retired), Brad Hartman (retired), Jarrad Jansen (traded to Brisbane Lions), Hamish McIntosh (retired), Jared Rivers (retired), Dawson Simpson (joined Greater Western Sydney as free agent), Mathew Stokes (retired), James Toohey (retired), Josh Walker (traded to Brisbane Lions)
On: Patrick Dangerfield (traded from Adelaide), Lachie Henderson (traded from Carlton), Scott Selwood (free agent from West Coast), Zac Smith (traded from Gold Coast)
