Tuesday's Mid-Season Draft was dominated by mature-agers, with 11 players from the VFL, seven from the SANFL and just one from the Talent League selected.
As expected, most clubs targeted list needs after Essendon used their Pick 1 on the player consensually viewed as the best player in the crop.
Six key-position players were picked up, including four rucks, with former Sydney player Hugo Hall-Kahan the only formerly listed player to get a second chance.
A total of 12 clubs participated, with GWS, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Fremantle, Sydney Swans and Geelong not taking a player.
Below is a club-by-club grading.
Port Adelaide (Xavier Bamert, Alex Van Wyk)
Grade: B+
Port Adelaide appear to have had their sights set on their two players for some time and emerged with exactly who they were after: Xavier Bamert and Alex Van Wyk. They had a third selection available, but chose to pass.
Bamert has always looked likely to end up on an AFL list, having been one of the better players to go undrafted at the end of last year, and he adds a competitive edge to the midfield brigade. Given Port Adelaide is some time from being back in the window, it makes sense to pick a 19-year-old despite the Mid-Season intake increasingly slanting towards mature-agers.
Alex Van Wyk is a local ruck they valued highly to provide back-up to Jordon Sweet and Dante Visentini, so should be viewed as a positive pick-up for the Power. The slight caveat which brings the grade down is there will be a level of scrutiny that will be applied if Van Wyk does not end up becoming the player Port hope he will, given there was several ruck options that most clubs viewed as the leaders, which he was not in.
