Hamish Ogilvie spoke ahead of the Draft
Adelaide National Recruiting Manager Hamish Ogilvie is confident the Crows will have “three or four exciting players” at their disposal when their first-round selection is tabled, signalling a strong position heading into draft night one.
The 2025 Telstra AFL Draft will take place this Wednesday and Thursday night, and Adelaide will enter the opening round with Pick No.16.
Speaking on Tuesday from the Club’s Melbourne headquarters, Ogilvie said Adelaide would likely only use two of its picks and was confident there would be a strong selection of players available.
“I think we’ll have three or four really exciting players to decide from,” Ogilvie said.
“We won’t be bogged down on the type, it will probably be the best available player, and then look at the last pick to balance it out and look at some needs back there.
“(Our) preparations have been good, when you finish higher up the ladder, it makes things a little bit different, you don’t have quite as much ammunition to throw around and get involved in things, but I’d rather it that way.
“We probably will only have the two picks (currently No.16 and 48), that makes it a little bit easier to plan and prepare for.”
Since 2018, clubs have been able to trade selections in real time on draft night, giving them the flexibility to move up the order or accumulate future picks if they believe the following year’s draft pool better suits their needs.
And Ogilvie hasn’t ruled out the Crows taking part in live trading this year.
“We are open (to live trading),” Ogilvie said.
“I think there’s only one, two, maybe three scenarios left for us, we wouldn’t be able to do all three, perhaps one of those scenarios becomes live.
“Whether we have enough stock to move up or move back a bit, we’ll see, but there’s still a lot of things on the go, so you never say never.”
SA has a solid crop set to feature in this year’s draft after the state team won its first Marsh AFL National Under-18 Boys Championships title since 2018.
Ogilvie said the breakthrough title highlighted how far the state’s junior talent had come.
“(It was) a great effort to win the champs, (they are) a really strong team, well-coached, the program now in South Australia is really good, the kids are really well-prepared,” Ogilvie said.
“It (this year’s draft crop) got better the more we’ve learnt, I think there’s some really high character kids in this draft.
“There’s a bit there for everyone and there’s some different types.”
The 2025 Telstra AFL Draft will be broadcast live on Fox Footy and Kayo from 6.30pm ACDT on Wednesday, November 19 and Thursday, November 20.
You can also watch AFL.com.au and the AFL Live Official App’s Draft Night Live show from 6.30pm ACDT on both nights.
