Greater Western Sydney have taken Victorian midfielder Lachie Whitfield with the No.1 pick at the AFL national draft.
The Giants also had the next two picks at Thursday night’s function at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, with which they snared another midfielder Jonathan O’Rourke and key defender Lachie Plowman.
Whitfield is a 184cm, 77kg 18-year-old, long touted as the likely No.1 pick.
He won the Larke Medal as the best player in this year’s under-18 national championships and is highly regarded for his elite endurance and precise kicking on both feet.
O’Rourke is also a 184cm 18-year-old Victorian, boasting great, speed endurance and classy ball use by both hand and foot.
Plowman is a 192cm backman with great composure.
As expected, Melbourne, who had the No.4 pick, swooped on South Australia’s Jimmy Toumpas, a quick, hard-working midfielder who played in a senior SANFL premiership as a 17-year-old last year.
The Western Bulldogs had the next two picks, first plumping for tall utility Jake Stringer.
The Dogs were not put off by the fact that 191cm, 94kg Stringer missed the entire 2011 season with a badly broken leg.
They then took 189cm long-kicking left-footed midfielder Jackson Macrae.
Port Adelaide added ferocious tackling, hard-at-it 188cm midfielder Oliver Wines with their top pick (No.7).
Brisbane added some attacking power, with 187cm South Australian forward Sam Mayes at No.8.
Richmond went for aggressive, solidly-built midfielder Nick Vlastuin at No.9, with Essendon’s father-son pick, tall forward Joe Daniher, rounding out the top 10.
In other notable first-round selections, Carlton swooped on freakishly talented forward Troy Menzel at No.11.
The brother of Geelong’s Daniel Menzel, Troy would most likely have gone higher if not for the fact he had a LARS knee reconstruction at age 16.
West Australian quick, agile midfielder-forward Joshua Simpson, who threw recruiters a surprise when it was revealed in recent days he fathered a child early this year, gets to stay in his home state after being taken by Fremantle at pick No.17.
Collingwood picked up the man regarded as the outstanding ruckman in this year’s draft pool, 202cm South Australian Brodie Grundy.