Essendon aren't looking to trade away their first-round selection at season's end as the Tullamarine club plans to attack the free agency period instead.
The Bombers currently hold Pick 3 for the 2022 National Draft and have flagged a busy off-season of recruitment lies ahead as Ben Rutten looks to steer the red and black back toward finals contention.
This season's draft crop features multiple highly-rated prospects already tied to Essendon, with Next Generation Academy talent Anthony Munkara and father-son twin duo Alwyn and Jayden Davey, the sons of 100-game Bomber Alwyn Davey, all a chance to have their name read out later this year.
Munkara is expected to slip through the Bombers' fingers however, with the AFL moving the threshold for matching academy bids to Pick 40 for this year's draft, a further 20 selections back from last year.
The West Adelaide livewire currently firms as a potential first-round prospect and will likely be out of the Bombers' reach on draft night, having shown promising glimpses for West Adelaide and the AFL Academy in 2022.
Alwyn Davey Jnr is also in contention as an early selection, however no restrictions on father-son selections will likely see the agile onballer walk to the Hangar.
The Bombers will likely need to shift their draft picks in the available trade windows this off-season to acquire the needed points to land Davey Jnr's services, with Essendon football boss Josh Mahoney foreshadowing the likely necessity to exchange their latter selections.
Jayden Davey is less likely to secure an AFL list spot after requiring a season-ending knee reconstruction, however could remain in the Bombers' plans for the future.
While both Davey twins will be part of the club's drafting plotting, the Bombers are also anticipated to hold onto their earliest selection.
Speaking toย AFL Nation,ย Mahoney flagged that the club will have their sights set on free agency rather than trade, with their top pick unlikely to be up for grabs.
โNo, not at this stage,โ Mahoney said of trading Essendon's first-round pick.ย
โI think itโll mainly be looking at the free agency market, thatโs a big one for us at the moment, weโre in some conversations there.
โAnd then weโre looking at trading other picks. I think at the moment, the pick that weโve currently got is such a valuable pick, so weโre looking at different scenarios, but hopefully weโre not having Pick 3 at the end of the year.โ
The off-season planning will follow a similar path to Essendon's recruitment process of last year, having recruited Crow Jake Kelly through free agency while remaining distant from trades.
The Bombers were also able to add first-round selection Ben Hobbs with Pick 13, continuing to blood youth into their system as the club remains satisfied with where their list sits.
Essendon are well placed to further bolster their list with big-name recruiting, having been linked to the likes of star Saint Rowan Marshall.
Mahoney expressed his delight in the club's current position off-field, while hoping the tide will turn on it.
โApart from that (Kelly) we werenโt active, just backing in our list, and weโre in a position now where weโve got a good handle on the position weโre at and weโre in a good position to attack the trade period, (to) look at adding some players to our list,โ Mahoney said.
โWe arenโt playing anywhere near where we think we can play, but you do go through these little periods, and itโs not a real assessment of where weโre at as a list currently, but weโre hoping in the back half of the year when we get five or six players back that are in our best 22, weโll get a better handle on that.โ
The Bombers currently hold the third selection in each round of the 2022 National Draft, having held all of their future picks through last year's trade period.
