In this week’s episode of Inside Melbourne, Clint Stanaway and Caty Price chat to Melbourne’s national recruiting manager Jason Taylor ahead of the 2018 National Draft. We discuss live trading (3:00), what the club is looking for (8:00), last year’s recruits (10:00), researching players (16:45) and embracing the families (22:30).

MELBOURNE’S national recruiting manager Jason Taylor says building the club’s midfield depth will be a focus in the 2018 National Draft.

As it stands, Melbourne holds picks 23, 28, 54, 62 and 91 in the draft, with the club looking to bolster its list on Thursday night and Friday morning.

“We will look at a range of players and take the best available player in those regions,” Taylor told Inside Melbourne.

“But I think the midfield initially [is a focus], if we can just start to build underneath that – the likes of (Clayton) Oliver, (Jack) Viney, (Angus) Brayshaw, (James) Harmes, (Christian) Petracca.”

The Demons midfield is continuing to develop, and Taylor believes bringing in a second tier of players would be beneficial.

“We’re fairly young in most areas but we’re now starting to get that group in that 23 (year-old) age bracket,” he said.

“So we think [we could] look underneath our midfield there maybe.”

Taylor is comfortable with the position of the current list after successfully acquiring some mature aged talent in the off-season.

“I think with the trade period, being able to bring in Steven May, (Braydon) Preuss, (Kade) Kolodjashnij, we’ve shored up some certain areas we needed to,” Taylor said.

“So we can be a little bit flexible I think.”

The Demons will be in a strong position to land multiple quality players as the depth of this year’s draft has been praised.

“It’s a good draft – I think most drafts are relatively good,” Taylor said.

“I think the top end has got some real talent in there and there’s a real variety of talent.”

While Taylor has spent countless hours researching potential draftees, he admits the selection process may come down to gut instinct.

“First thought is a term we use a lot,” he said.

“Quite often you come back to your first thought, and that might be just a piece of play that you see.

“You’ve got to be careful not to pick the eyes out of them too much because they all come with their different strengths and weaknesses.”

The first round of the 2018 National Draft begins on Thursday night at Marvel Stadium, before the remaining rounds are completed on Friday morning.