Marcus Ashcroft Exclusive | Courtesy of the Courier Mail
THERE'S a buzz of excitement at the GCFC after the national under-18s carnival.
The quality of players in this year's draft is excellent and with picks two, three, five, seven, nine, 11, 13 and 15 at our disposal we know there will be some very handy footballers calling the Gold Coast home next year.
It has also hardened our resolve not to trade any of our early picks for players - which has been our motto from the start.
Harley Bennell and Jack Darling from Western Australia, and James Solly and Sam Day from South Oz were four that caught my eye.
And, of course, there are a number of guns that were junior members of last year's under-18s side that toured South Africa.
Bluey McKenna and I went on that trip and got to know the likes of Lucas Cook, Scott Lycett, Kieran Harper and Shaun Atley.
These guys will be high in this year's pecking order and we already know them pretty well.
That is important too because we are determined not to just select the best footballers but the young men whose character fits best within the culture we are building at the GCFC.
The group we have got here are young but they are maturing every week and have already set high standards for themselves.
These are the standards the young men whose names we call out in the draft will have to meet.
Everyone is acutely aware of the draft picks we have so if you're a good player at this year's carnival you'll probably end up with us. The kids know it and so do their parents.
The exciting thing for them is that because we are a young side just starting out, they are a lot closer to an AFL game than a lot of kids who go to more established clubs.
Plus they will be around a group of footballers their same age with shared interests.
You hear recruiters talk about good and bad drafts but I don't think there is a great differential from year to year.
If you look at the history of first round draft picks they generally have long careers and that is what we want, sustainability.
We want our first side to be full of boys that go on to play 200 games for us.
It is really hard for me to compare how this year's draft is likely to stand against last year's given we weren't in it then and I personally didn't study it in depth.
But were certain that with nine of the first 15 picks we will have some future superstars representing our club.
Of course last year we were able to entice a number of 17-year-olds, who were born between January and April of 1992, to bypass the draft and come and join us 12 month earlier under the AFL's recruiting rules.
From what we saw at the carnival - Josh Toy, Maverick Weller and Brandon Matera could have all gone top 10.
