THE Western Bulldogs are lauding their selections at Thursday’s AFL national draft.
The Dogs opted to stay close to home with all their fresh faces coming from Victoria.
“We’re very happy,” Bulldogs recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple said after the draft.
“We got the players we had targeted and we’re thrilled to finally have it resolved and have them at our club. At picks five and six, we were after purely the best players.”
Jake Stringer, a powerfully-built forward out of the Bendigo Pioneers, was claimed by the Bulldogs with their prized fifth selection.
The 18-year-old is a bull-at-a-gate type footballer, hard to bring down in a tackle, strong in the one-on-one contest and not afraid to lay a solid tackle of his own. He has the capacity to pinch-hit in the midfield.
The Bulldogs used the GWS compensation pick they received after the defection of Callan Ward to the expansion club on Jackson Macrae, a smooth-moving midfielder out of the Oakleigh Chargers.
Macrae, 18, represented Vic Metro at the national championships and showed that he can certainly hit a target with a kicking efficiency of 78 per cent from an average of 19.4 disposals.
He also grabbed the spotlight with six goals in a game against Tasmania. The Bulldogs added to their bevy of in-and-under stocks too, calling out Northern Knights captain Nathan Hrovat with pick 21. Hrovat has been compared to Hawthorn onballer Sam Mitchell and his stats at the national championships only serve to fuel the fire.
The 18-year-old averaged 25.5 disposals, 10 of which were contested, and 4.4 clearances to be Vic Metro’s most valuable player at the nationals and earn All Australian honours.
Hunter was next to go with the father-son selection.
A member of local TAC Cup club Western Jets, Hunter is an unassuming midfielder who can win his own ball and has an eye for goal, which makes him a versatile asset.
Josh Prudden was the last player chosen by the Bulldogs before they passed on pick 84 and surrendered their final two choices on rookie elevations Tom Campbell and Jason Johannisen.
Prudden, who was coached by Bulldogs great Scott Wynd in school footy, was a draft smoky at pick 50. The 18-year-old time-shared between the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup, Assumption College in the school system and Seymour in the Goulburn Valley league. A highlights package on the Bulldogs website suggests he’s a player with elite kicking ability, clean hands at ground level and a cheeky sidestep.
