Matt Burgan goes behind the Melbourne Football Club scenes to provide an exclusive look at the club’s mid-season recruiting conference in the second of a two-part series

PART TWO

Tuesday, 12:30 pm

The conversation is soon directed to who Melbourne should take with its first pick in the NAB AFL Draft.

“If we were picking now, who would we take? given we’re probably going to have No. 2,” Taylor, the former right-hand man to the much-respected Collingwood recruiting manager Derek Hine, says.

Taylor is optimistic about the club’s future.

“The position the club’s in, we’re going to be bringing these kids through together,” he says.

“If we keep adding to it, it’ll tip the balance the other way;  we’re picking for the future, not just next year.

“It’s going to turn.”

1 pm 

The recruiters break for lunch.

The crew pops down the road to collect some hearty tucker. Roast beef, lamb or pork rolls are on today’s menu. The contingent brings back the rolls to the meeting room, where a casual chat over lunch evolves. 

Attention is then quickly back on the talent pool.

1:30 pm

The recruiting staff is deep in thought again.

At times, the recruiters will ask ‘where will he play in the AFL?’ It’s an overriding theme throughout the day. 

During the vision shown, at one stage an interview with Todd Viney at the NAB AFL under 18 championships appears, which gains several chuckles from the recruiting team. 

“Fast forward that,” Lamb says, drawing laughs.

At one stage, the recruiting team hones in on a certain player for their second pick.

The other notion mentioned by the recruiters is ‘where will a certain player be in the game in five years’ time?’ It’s an interesting thought and something the crew must ponder carefully.

Taylor offers some perspective.

“The game’s key traits have remained the same since 1908,” he says.

The recruiting team then has a five minute break.

3:35 pm

The recruiters are on the home stretch.

Another six players are spoken about for the day.

It’s important to note that the improvement of players throughout the season is also discussed over the day.

It’s not just about critiquing. It’s also about praising those who have improved throughout the season.

Of course, the talented player with the questionable work ethic is also spoken of at length, when required.

And placing certain players in order remains a challenge every season – this is no different.

The composure of players during matches – and their awareness – are strongly honed in on. But players who don’t stick to their roles are also not looked upon kindly. 

Soon, the final player of the day is assessed. It’s been a particularly thorough process, looking in depth at the talents of 25 players.

5:20 pm

So, after a full day of analysing, Melbourne has made some genuine progress in assessing this year’s cream of the crop.  

“Today was about coming away and making sure we’re clear on our position on each player that we’ve identified. So if we’re unclear on any area of a player’s game, we need to make sure we’re clear in the next four to eight week period,” he says.

“Some competitions will finish in few weeks, some players will get injured, some won’t play finals, and so we’ve got a short period of time left. It was about sitting down and saying ‘we’re ok with this guy, and we don’t need to put as much work into him, because we can’t be everywhere’. So we need to get all our allocations spot on when planning for certain players.

“It’s important for the full-time staff, who are the key personnel making the decisions, so we need to be clear.”

Matches are then finalised for the recruiting staff to monitor for the upcoming weekend, and then the work is done for the day. 

But there are another 25 players to ponder the next day.

And the work doesn’t stop there. Like all things in football now, it’s practically a 12 month operation. For recruiters, it’s the same.  

It’s a massive job – an endless and sometimes thankless task, but the work that’s put in by recruiters from all around the country is absolutely thorough. Melbourne is no exception.

The Demons are going the extra mile to unearth the next wave of talent to help drag them out of a disappointing era.

And it will be fascinating to see the revamped recruiting staff do its stuff this year and, for them, to see the fruits of their labour rewarded.