What the recruiter said
"We're very happy. We got the players we had targeted, and we're thrilled to finally have it resolved and have them at our club. At picks five and six we were after purely the best players. It wasn't position-based. We see both of them as midfielders and forwards. Jake Stringer is really strong in contested marks, and Jackson Macrae has got terrific forward nous. We'll now have a pick in the pre-season draft and probably also the rookie draft. We won't rule out taking at least one mature-age player." - Recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple
Pick five: Jake Stringer, Bendigo Pioneers
Dalrymple says: We're very confident about his leg. In his medical at the combine he got a really good report. We'd been watching him since he was 16. What he showed this year was limited given his preparation, but before that he'd been outstanding. So there's an enormous capacity for improvement. We've got the facilities and the expertise to manage him really well, and we think we've got a super player.
Pick six: Jackson Macrae, Oakleigh Chargers
Dalrymple says: We love his decision-making and his poise. The game slows down around him when he has the ball. That's a very rare commodity. I have been watching TAC Cup footy since the late 1990s, and I haven't seen many players - [Scott] Pendlebury and [Trent] Cotchin to a certain extent - with that sort of poise in traffic. I'm not saying he's going to be Cotchin, but he's got some of those attributes.
Pick 21: Nathan Hrovat, Northern Knights
Dalrymple says: It's a legitimate thrill that he got to us. We originally had pick 28 (before the trade period), and we wouldn't have got him there. He's an outstanding young man, a great leader, wins the ball on the inside and the outside, and we think the mix with Luke Dahlhaus and Nathan both going onball and forward will be outstanding. He's one of the most driven individuals I've seen. We knew a number of clubs in the mid-teens were interested ... so it was a really nervous wait.
Pick 49: Lachlan Hunter (father-son), Western Jets
Dalrymple says: We're rapt to have him. We rated him in the high 20s. He's fitted in really well. He's another midfielder/forward who can kick goals, which we really wanted.
Pick 50: Joshua Pruden, Murray Bushrangers
Dalrymple says: He's from the Murray Bushrangers and Assumption College, coached by Scott Wynd, so there's a Bulldogs connection there. He's a midfielder with really good endurance. He's had some injuries, so he only played seven games for Murray. Because of his limited preparation pre-season he was on and off the ground a bit, but when he was on he just kept on getting the ball. He's really good around the contest and he's a humble, hardworking, ripper kid.
Pick 84: pass
Pick 98: Tom Campbell (rookie upgrade)
Pick 105: Jason Johannisen (rookie upgrade)
