St Kilda is taking an open mind to the draft, with the view that anything could happen before the club’s first pick.

The Saints hold pick 14, which could fall to as low as 18 once the new points bidding system comes into effect.

Recruiting and List Manager Tony Elshaug said it was simply a matter of picking the best player available, rather than limiting options to addressing positional needs.

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“This year we are at pick 14 and that may end up being pick 16, 17 or 18 once the bidding system comes into place,” Elshaug said on the eve of the draft.

“We want to know the players the best we can – their football, off the field and also their athleticism then rank them from one to 60. They’ll get called out then we’ll cross them off the list and see who is at the highest point.”

Melbourne, Adelaide, Essendon and Carlton all have multiple picks before the Saints, which Elshaug said could affect how the draft unfolds and what options St Kilda has.

“You always have your thoughts of who may end up at that pick but it is really hard to know. There are four clubs who hold nine of the first 13 picks. Anything is likely to happen,” he said.

“You can rank them in order of how you see their talents but when you’ve got multiple picks, they may pick a midfielder and a key position player. You can’t be 100 per cent sure of what is going to happen so that might flush one player down the order along the way.”

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The Saints have a broad range of players in mind for their first selection and Elshaug said there was a chance the player they take with the first pick would affect their line of thinking for their next two selections.

“We’ve got to consider that all the way through, in fact depending on what you pick first it can determine a lot about what you pick next and also the third pick,” he said.

“Ideally you don’t want to pick three players who play in the same position, particularly if you’ve already got a lot in that position. You’d like to pick a broad range of players but you’ve got to be careful of ignoring what the best talent available is.”