For the first time in club history, North Melbourne holds the number one draft pick.
Before Will Phillips’ selection with the third pick of the 2020 NAB AFL Draft, the club hadn’t taken a top two selection since Daniel Wells in 2002, and even that pick came through a trade, not poor ladder position.
It’s an illustration of how competitive the Roos have been over the best part of two decades.
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These high draft picks are integral to a club looking to rebuild from the ground up, whether that be through selecting the best young talent, or trading for established superstars.
Richmond and Adelaide both made plays for the number one pick, with North vehemently knocking back both offers.
“When you’ve got pick one, and the draft this year has a couple of guys at the top end of extreme talent, clubs are going to come for it,” GM of Football Brady Rawlings told SEN.
“Once you get to this point of the year you can attribute a pick to a player, and it becomes even more valuable.
“I’m sure there’ll be more that come for the pick, I’m just not sure anyone’s going to have the currency to get it done.”
It doesn’t take the biggest leap in logic to assume the “couple of guys at the top end of talent” Rawlings mentions are Jason Horne-Francis and Nick Daicos.
The pair have been alternating at the top of most phantom drafts and player rankings all year long, but some stunning football in the past month has shot Horne-Francis to the top of the experts' analysis.
After ripping up the SANFL as a 17 year-old, Horne-Francis rose to prominence once again with a stunning three-goal performance in the preliminary final.
Rawlings says the club met with the highly touted prospect recently over Zoom.
“The guys went through a standard interview like they do with all the players. The last few weeks there have been a lot of interviews done with our recruiting team,” he said.
“With players who are at school we use the school holiday period, and with players in finals it’s obviously been a pretty busy schedule for a fair few.
“You try and marry up when the whole family can be involved … it does take a bit of organisation.
“They caught up with Jason and his family and everything went well. There’s not too many more impressive kids around than Jason.”
With alterations to the trade period and free agency in recent years, it’s never been easier for players to move clubs.
Every trade period there are players who request a trade citing the desire to move home or be closer to family or friends, much like Bobby Hill from GWS this year.
With Horne-Francis hailing from South Australia, one of the big questions surrounding his recruitment is his potential ability to adapt to a different state.
Rawlings says he believes the culture at Arden Street is enough to convince any player to stay, regardless of their home state.
“We’ll back ourselves in with anyone we bring in from any state that they’ll come in, they’ll be developed, they’ll be cared for, and hopefully they’ll be excited by the talent we’ve put around them,” he added.
“Once you get a player in your club who loves the players they play with and loves the club, there’s no reason to leave.
“That’s the plan with everyone we bring in from interstate. Obviously, we did it with Tom Powell last year and he extended.
“We’ll back ourselves in that anyone we bring in from interstate, they’re going to buy into our culture and love the place, and hopefully get some success in the future.”
