Ever wondered what happens from the moment a player is drafted by a club? Behind the scenes, engines roar to life as the machines that make football clubs function smoothly click into gear.

While the recruiting and list management team is responsible for unearthing the next champions of the club and for constructing the pillars for future success, other key personnel get to work to ensure the new recruits enjoy a smooth transition to their new world.

At St Kilda, former Saints rover and now Player Development Manager, Tony Brown, is the man in charge of this transition. Along with List Manager, Tony Elshaug, and his team of recruiters, Brown helps welcome the draftees to life at St Kilda.

“I’m the first point of contact for them and their families when their names are read out. The senior players make contact and welcome them, as does ‘Richo’ and the coaching staff,” Brown told saints.com.au on Tuesday afternoon.

“I then put the wheels in motion with assisting with flights and accommodation for the families if they’re coming in from interstate and see which players on our list can host one of the boys in the lead up to Christmas.”

St Kilda added three players at last November’s National Draft, Ben Long, Josh Battle and Ed Phillips, with the latter pair remaining in the comfort of their own homes.

For Northern Territorian Long – the clubs first pick at No. 25 – despite boarding at Melbourne Grammar for the last three years, his time at the prestigious school was over so he needed to find a new roof over his head.

“When Ben first arrived at the club he moved in with Jason Holmes and Blake Acres after the draft and he stayed with them up until Christmas,” Brown said.

“For interstate recruits like Ben, what we do is find host families for them to live in their first year, and it’s important to find the best fit for the individual; we’ve done that with Ben and he moved in over the weekend.”

Once the new recruits land at the club, the fun part begins for the player welfare team. Cars and insurances are organised, university and education programs are arranged, and sometimes even bank accounts are setup, along with other administrative duties.

The first few days of Long’s journey at St Kilda were spent organising a passport ahead of the club’s pre-season camp in Auckland. Brown then took Long shopping for warm clothes and camping gear, ticking more boxes along the way.

“When Ben arrived at the club he didn’t have a passport so we had to organise that within three days so he could fly out to New Zealand for the camp,” Brown said.

We organise phones if needed, helping source cars if needed and car insurance, health insurance through the club or applying for their own Medicare card, setting up bank accounts in some situations and then making introductions to everyone inside the football department.

“When Joe Baker-Thomas moved across from New Zealand we had to setup a bank account for him, some player managers prefer to do that, but we can certainly help with that where necessary.

“When Ben arrived at the club we went shopping at Anaconda ahead of the camp in New Zealand. Understandably, going from Darwin to the snow in New Zealand was a bit of a climate change. Those sort of things, as well as shopping for cars is part of the role of the player development team.”