Gold Coast SUNS list manager Scott Clayton believes all four players selected at Tuesday night’s national draft have the potential to play senior football in 2016. Although it won’t be a measure of who can play first, rather who can perform at the highest level for the longest.
 
The SUNS added prodigious talent Callum Ah Chee (pick No. 8), ball magnet Brayden Fiorini (No. 20), running machine Josh Schoenfeld (No. 34) and mature-aged utility Mackenzie Willis (No. 52) to the club’s list at the draft.
 
Last year’s crop of first-year players experienced varying degrees of senior football exposure in 2015, with Touk Miller substantially exceeding expectations by playing all 22 games, as well as finishing fourth in the best and fairest.
 
And whilst Clayton doesn’t expect any of the recently acquired class of 2015 to entrench themselves inside Rodney Eade’s best 22 next year in the manner Miller did, the experienced talent identifier wouldn’t be surprised if they do.
 
“As much as we don’t expect (them to play a lot of senior football in their first season) or it’s not a race to see who plays first, we take them for long term careers,” Clayton told SUNS TV in his post-draft evaluation.
 
“But when you look at them individually, they’ve all got opportunity to push up and get some AFL experience (next year) – like Touk Miller surprised us last year.”
 
Clayton was impressed with the new bidding system at this year’s draft, predicting that once the creases have been ironed out, the annual cattle call will run like clockwork and allow for future bidding on the night to take place.
 
“I think the whole system’s brilliant. I’d like it sharpened up a little bit in terms of how long it went,” he said.
 
“But overall, it’s an incredibly complex but overall a very, very good system. I think we’ll even start to grow forward with future picks on the night perhaps.”