NATIONAL recruiting manager Jason Taylor says the Demons are confident they can secure the players they have targeted with each of their three ‘live’ picks in Thursday’s NAB AFL Draft.

Melbourne has picks No.9, No.40, No.57 and No.82, which has already been allocated to Mitch Clisby as an elevated rookie selection.

But Taylor said the club was not worried about what other clubs were doing in the draft and was simply adamant about the Dees sticking to their own course.   

“What you’re best off doing is getting your list and processes in order and whichever way they fall, you cross them off as you go. That’s how it happens,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“You can be confident in the range of players who get to your picks. You know there are certain players who will fall in between your picks and you need a bit of luck for them to fall your way.

“But there is a range of players that you’re reasonably confident on, but it’s never down to one [player], it’s a collective amount. You’d hope there is a group of three or four that you’re picking from.”

Although an oft-used cliché around draft time, Taylor was absolutely adamant that he would select ‘best available’ over ‘needs’ in this meeting.

“[We’ll look for] best available in all honesty,” he said.

“We know we’ve been able to bring midfielders in through the trade period. I still think it’s an area we need to keep an influx coming through.

“It may end up that way that it’s a midfielder, but there are some taller utility types who may come through and if they’re at the top of our order, we’ll pick them.”

Given Tom Boyd and Josh Kelly are expected to be claimed by Greater Western Sydney with the first two picks in the Draft – and Luke McDonald has already been secured as a father/son selection by North Melbourne at No.8 – expect one of the following to be secured by Melbourne at No.9: James Aish, Jack Billings, Marcus Bontempelli, Kade Kolodjashnij, Nathan Freeman, Ben Lennon, Christian Salem, Matt Scharenberg, Dom Sheed or Lewis Taylor.

Although the AFL Draft had become the key part of player acquisition in recent years, Taylor said it had now “blended” into a part of the recruiting process, given free agency’s impact and an expanded trade period.

But he said he was “totally relaxed” that the Melbourne recruiting team had covered all bases ahead of the Draft, which will be held at the Gold Coast Exhibition and Convention Centre.

“If you had have asked me that a fortnight ago, I had some anxious and sleepless nights thinking about some particulars, which is a recruiter’s lot,” he said.

“In the last week, I’ve been quite relaxed and confident that we’ve done the work and that the process we have holds us in good stead.

“We’ve worked off the four [key recruiting] pillars that we put in place and we’re confident that we’ve got our list in a good order. We’re pretty confident we’ll be fine.”

Along with Taylor, manager of player personnel Todd Viney will sit at the front table on draft night, while the supporting table behind will consist of Paul Roos (senior coach), Josh Mahoney (manager of football operations), Kelly O’Donnell (pro scouting), Tim Lamb (national recruiting assistant) and Darren Farrugia (recruiting technology coordinator).

On a personal level, Taylor, who joined Melbourne in January, after five drafting periods with Collingwood and three years before that with St Kilda, said this gig was the realisation of a long term goal.

But Taylor added that the support he had received from his recruiting staff and the work that they had done behind the scenes had been invaluable. 

“It’s been a big year on a personal level for me, because of the culmination of a lot of work to get to this point,” he said.

“Just before I left [for the Gold Coast], I had a moment at home really. I thought about how much I’d enjoyed the year working with the group of people I do – I really enjoy their company.

“There is a lot of trust amongst us and they’re hard workers and very knowledgeable at their craft. Going forward, that’ll hold us in good stead making the right decisions, because there are no egos amongst us and we’re all working together. I’ve found that the most enjoyable part of the year upon reflection.”

Taylor added that Roos had also played a big role in his short time at the club.

“Further to the support I’ve received over a long period of time from Todd Viney and Josh Mahoney, Paul has been very supportive to what we’re trying to achieve tomorrow (Thursday) night.”

“He took some confidence out of the trade period with all the meetings we had around list management – [and he reinforced] that we were on the right track.

“There have been a couple of times where I or one of the team has gone to him and asked him a question around a certain player’s make-up – just to get his experience. He’s offered that and then let us back to our own devices, so I reckon he’s been outstanding.”