Swallow is the No.1 AFL pick

Gold Coast have confirmed widespread speculation by taking midfielder David Swallow
as the top pick on Thursday in the AFL national draft.
Swallow turns 18 on Friday and is coming off an impressive season for Gold Coast's
VFL team.
He hails from East Fremantle and is the younger brother of North Melbourne star Andrew.
The Suns will become the AFL's 17th team next year and they had the first three
picks as part of their recruiting concessions.
They had eight of the first 13 selections.
As expected, utility Harvey Bennell from Perth was the second pick and the Suns took
SA ruckman Sam Day with the third selection.
West Coast had the fourth pick and they also did not surprise, taking Melbourne
midfielder Andrew Gaff.
The top 10 picks were pre-selected in a private meeting a few minutes before the
draft officially started and were counted down in reverse order.
There were no major surprises in the top 10.
The other top picks were midfielder Jared Polec (five, Brisbane), utility Reece
Conca (six, Richmond), midfielder Josh Caddy (seven, Gold Coast), midfielder Dyson
Heppell (eight, Essendon), utility Dion Prestia (nine, Gold Coast) and ruckman
Daniel Gorringe (10, Gold Coast).
The draft was held on the Gold Coast to help promote the Suns' impending entry into
the AFL.
Swallow is expected to be in Gold Coast's team when they make their AFL debut in
round two next season.
There are massive raps on the midfielder and he will start next year as the
favourite for the Rising Star award.
Melbourne were expected to take Heppell with their first pick at 12, so they went
instead for tall forward Lucas Cook.
Ruckman Scott Lycett was tipped to go to North Melbourne at pick 17, but he had to
wait until West Coast's No.29 selection.
The Eagles also used their No.26 priority pick on forward Jack Darling, who was one
of the more intriguing stories of this year's draft.
Darling was a top prospect late last year, but he narrowly missed being old enough
for draft eligibility.
Injuries this year and some off-field indiscretions had dimmed his reputation
somewhat among recruiters.



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