COACH Paul Roos says he’s excited to see the club secure some more young talent, but adds that there won’t be any pressure on the players in their first season. 

Speaking after the NAB AFL Draft concluded on Thursday night at the Adelaide Convention Centre, Roos said he had a connection with Sam Weideman’s father Mark, who played 28 matches for Collingwood from 1981-84.

Weideman’s grandfather Murray was a great with the Pies and played in the 1953 and 1958 premierships for Collingwood. The ’58 flag was the one that stopped Melbourne from winning four flags in a row.

Roos said it was fantastic to see the Weideman name continue in football.

“I had a bit to do with Mark, his dad growing up, and playing, so the connection is there,” he told Dee TV.

“He is a good young kid. He hasn’t played a lot, so we are aware of that and there is a no pressure on him.

“We’ll train him up, give him plenty of time, make sure he is right to go and hopefully he has a long career.”

Roos said he was impressed with Clayton Oliver, the club’s No.3 pick, even though he “had a lot to do with” Mills when he was at the Swans academy.

“He (Mills) is a terrific young talent, so we bid on him, but the expectations at the time were that the Swans were going to match it, so we really thought we would get Clayton which we did,” he said.

Roos said talls Mitch King and Liam Hulett were important inclusions later in the draft.

“We needed a couple of talls – as we have deluged into the draft with Gus (Angus Brayshaw), Tracker (Christian Petracca), [Christian] Salem and [Dom] Tyson coming in – so it was good to get some talls into the club,” he said.

Roos said he saw himself as an advisor to the recruiters.

“I always see myself more of a consultant,” he said.

“We just come in look at players and say ‘I do like him’ and ‘I don’t like them’ or ‘we want a quick guy’.

“But at the end of the day, we are just consultants, they are the guys who wathch them week in week out so that’s why they make the picks.”

Roos said this year’s draft had an unusual feeling about it.

“It was a little bit strange being out the back without a telly, but it’s a night that’s really important for the footy club. It’s a night that’s not about how it looks visually, but it’s about what players you get at the end of the day,” he said.

Meanwhile, Roos said pre-season training had started strongly.

“The boys have been terrific. [I’ve] been really pleased with how the players have come back and thrown themselves into it,” he said.

“We are pretty advanced in our training, which is good in week two, but the five-plus year players do the time trial tomorrow (Wednesday), which will be interesting.”