Draft summary
"We thought we covered a few things in the national draft. A running back, a taller back and of course a senior ruckman as well as Jesse Smith who is also a running back. With losing Luke Ball we had to find an inside mid and that was young Mark Hutchings.”
“With Lenny Hayes hitting 30 next year and David Armitage still developing we were looking at replacing Luke Ball and Mark fitted the bill.”
“We had contract obligations with Jarryd Allen and Leigh Fisher so we will be fulfilling those.”
Player comments
Selection No.20: Mark Hutchings
DOB: 25/05/91, Height: 180cm, Weight: 82kg
Recruited from: East Perth (WA)
"He has got excellent endurance and agility. He also has a great work ethic that you need from your inside mids. He has got that strong body. If you think of a Jimmy Bartel who isn’t the quickest player going around, he has that strong body that can get the ball out and take punishment. He’s not quite as tall as Jimmy but we look at him as a smaller version of him. He has good vision and hands. He doesn’t fumble."
Selection No.36: Daniel Archer
DOB: 26/07/85, Height: 193cm, Weight: 98kg
Recruited from: Clarence (TAS)
“He’s a bit raw but he’s got good speed and endurance. He can mark it and we feel that there is a fair bit of improvement in Daniel. He hasn’t been involved in the elite programs but he has played a lot of cricket and has only started to concentrate on his football in the last couple of years. We thought we needed another tall forward to develop and Daniel has shown a bit of adaptability in playing centre half back in the championships also. He can be a bit of a swing player. Rookie list players need an outstanding attitude and we feel we’ve got that with Daniel.”
Selection No.49: Jarryd Allen
DOB: 14/01/88, Height: 193cm, Weight: 87kg
Recruited from: Calder U18/St Kilda
"He has retired and won’t be training train with us or have any involvement. We had a contractual obligation to keep Jarryd."
Selection No.60: Leigh Fisher
DOB: 19/04/84, Height: 184cm, Weight: 90kg
Recruited from: Mentone Grammar/Sandringham U18/St Kilda
"We also had a contractual obligation with Leigh. He is our mature-age rookie and we will work from there."
Selection No.69: Tommy Walsh
DOB: 21 years old, Height: 195cm, Weight: 95kg
Recruited from: County Kerry (Ireland)
"We’ve been impressed with what we’ve seen so far. He has got outstanding speed and agility. He is a power athlete and he has definitely shown those attributes since coming to the club. We could see a big upside to him. It will take time until he learns all the rules of footy but we are quite excited about the prospect of what might be down the track."
