AFL: Kangaroos defend bold draft call, can ‘improve quite a bit’

North Melbourne is adamant about giving up next year’s first-round pick as the right decision after it was the most heavily scrutinized move of the AFL Draft.

The Kangaroos completed a trade with Richmond on Wednesday to secure the final pick of the first round, selecting versatile big Matt Whitlock to bolster their key positions.

As part of the deal, they also received the Tigers’ future second-round pick, but gave up what could be a top-four pick next year – should North struggle again.

They have finished in the bottom two places in each of the last five seasons.

The surprise swap was widely seen by critics as a bargain for Richmond, but Kangaroos recruitment boss Will Thursfield defended his club’s move.

Thursfield said on Thursday night it was always North’s plan to take the best player available at pick two – midfielder Finn O’Sullivan – and swap him for a key position player.

They made the first offer to St Kilda at pick 8 and kept trying until Richmond played the ball, allowing them to catch Whitlock, who they rated as a real top-10 candidate.

“It’s about that mark,” Thursfield said.

“We can play him at the front or at the back, in a real key position, and we will have the athlete profile to compete with the big boys.”

“So yeah, we were happy to do it.”

In addition to first-round picks O’Sullivan and Whitlock, North also signed East Fremantle midfielder Luke Urquhart (pick 57) and father-son recruit River Stevens (67).

O’Sullivan joins fellow Top 10 inductees Harry Sheezel, George Wardlaw, Colby McKercher and Zane Duursma, all inducted in the last two years.

The Kangaroos are now confident they can climb steeply up the rankings, also helped by the trade-period acquisitions of Luke Parker, Caleb Daniel, Jack Darling and Jacob Konstanty.

“We’ve got enough kids now and we’ve reached the trade stage and brought in some more mature guys, so it’s time to get going,” Thursfield said.

“Given the cattle we’ve brought in and another year with these young animals, you would hope we would improve significantly, but it’s hard to say.”

“Ultimately we have to hold back a little.”

For their part, Richmond was pleased with the trade deal that netted them an additional 2025 first-round pick as they look to build on this year’s record haul.

“It’s a good result, but trading future picks is always dangerous,” Tigers football talent manager Blair Hartley told Fox Footy.

“We also gave them our future deputy.

“If you give up too many picks for next year, which we kind of did this year, you end up killing every team in the competition.

“But we’re excited about the position we’re in this year … but having the two first-round picks for next year obviously puts us in a good position for the future.”