The recruitment process is now far more thorough, with initiatives such as the AFL Draft Combine designed to closely examine the athletic ability, skill and character of the country’s best young prospects.
It is a far cry from the days when teams were simply built from the most talented players from a particular area.
Lions Assistant Coach Mark Harvey, who is more than familiar with the current process having spent the past 15 years in different coaching roles, told lions.com.au the story of his own recruitment to Essendon in the early 1980s.
“They were zoning days back then, and where you were drafted to was defined by the area you lived in,” Harvey remembered.
“I played school football for Keilor, which was part of Essendon’s zone, and was identified by their recruiting manager Noel Judkins.”
“You basically received an invitation to try out at training, and then it was just a numbers game.”
“Sometimes there would be upwards of around 90 players turn up to training, and it was eventually whittled down to 50 or so.”
“It was trial and error - and those that showed the most skill and discipline obviously remained.”
Even though the increase in testing means that more data is now available on young players than ever before, Harvey believes that some of the fundamentals of recruiting remain the same.
“Speed of the football brain and agility are still very much keys, whereas a player’s character is probably not as big of an indicator,” he said.
