With just over a month to go in many of the draft hopeful’s seasons and eight weeks until the Draft Combine, St Kilda’s list management and recruiting staff are working harder than ever to greater understand the talent on offer in this year’s crop.
“At the moment we are going to watch those players we need to monitor,” Elshaug said.
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"Within the games we are watching, we are certainly drilling in further to focus on what we are looking for from a player.“For example, we might say ‘let’s watch his long kick closely, or how his run and spread is.’ In particular, it might be nice to see someone who we’ve seen a fair bit play a new role or developing in his role.”
The four-day Draft Combine, which is held in the first week of October, is the last time recruiters will have the opportunity to monitor the physical attributes of the 96 attendees. But according to Elshaug, the increasingly publicised event isn’t just vital from a skill and fitness perspective – rather it will also allow him and his staff to further interview a host of young players to determine their character traits and personalities.
“In terms of what we want to get out of the combine – the testing is obvious, but it also gives us a chance to have a secondary chat with the players,” he said.
“We may further wish to interview a player if we have some more enquiries or more things we want to nail that may be a little bit uncertain.”
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Tony Elshaug will have countless chats and interviews just like this over the next three months.
The interview process stretches across Australia into the homes of potential draftees and will take up much of Elshaug’s time throughout August and September.“It’s a good thing to understand their upbringing, their character, their family makeup, and whatever else they have to deal with to get to this particular point,” Elshaug said.
“That will continue on for the next eight weeks. We’ll work across about 60-70 interviews across August and September and over and above that we will set ourselves up for the combine.”
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Earlier this week the 2014 Draft Combine list was announced, with almost 25 per cent of this year’s attendees from either Queensland or NSW/ACT.While Elshaug admitted there were no real surprises, he maintained that it would be foolish to lock in a number one pick now with five games still remaining in the AFL season.
“At last look, there is a possibility of finishing anywhere between 14th and 18th” he said.
“We don’t get caught up in who could be number one because it might not eventuate. Our job requires is for us to know the draft pool, rank them from one to 50, and then see where we land from there… We’ll continue to watch the vision and be diligent.”
The Saints recruiting team, which also includes Head of Football Chris Pelchen and current List Manager Ameet Bains, will cast its net far and wide in order to bring the best available talent in ahead of the 2015 season.
"We have eyes on the whole footy world,” Elshaug said.
“There are obviously mature age players and some of them are the 23rd in the VFL or playing in the WAFL or SANFL. Either way, we will continue to monitor them too.”
