The Hawthorn recruiting team has scoured hundreds of games of football in preparation.
Sitting in the rain at North Ballarat, watching pre-season training sessions, talking to school teachers- so many different moments that will contribute to so many different decisions over the course of the next 48 hours.
The team enters their assigned corporate box at Marvel Stadium and are immediately called into action.
The team is made up of six members with National Recruiting Manager Mark McKenzie at the helm, calling the shots.
Everyone is doing something.
McKenzie and Recruitment Administration Officer Mitch Cashion are assembling named magnets of the top 50 prospects ordered in their preference on the whiteboard.
The walls are being lined with papers of all different meanings by Recruiting and Academies Manager Mark Smart.
Performance Analysis Assistant James Barker is setting up the computer system, an integral feature that will allow the draft to function in its new format.
Recruitment Manager Geoff Morris is going over his notes, collated over the past 12 to 18 months. The booklet looks almost an inch thick.
Finally, GM- Football Graham Wright is on the phone to an opposition club’s GM. Two mates simply discussing work.
Despite the mutual understanding that the Hawks are unlikely to play any role in the first night of the draft, there’s a nervous energy in the room.
In the final half an hour before the draft, not one name is mentioned- the work has been done and, once the rush of preparing the room is over, there is a calm that comes with the knowledge that so much of this process is now out of their hands.
The 2015 Grand Final Recall is on the television in the background and it seems fitting. The essence of what these nights are all about is trying to accelerate the time until the custodians of the brown and gold are holding their next premiership cup aloft.
As the draft broadcast begins, all eyes are glued to the screen and, as names are gradually read out, you start to build an even greater appreciation for how much work goes into such events.
There’s general discussion about each player drafted, and the recruiters seem to know everything about all of them - their parents, their hairstyle, their pets, their cars and then of course their football pros and cons too!
It is a drawn-out wait until the end of the first round but once the final pick is called, the group quickly agrees to reconvene at a local café at 9am the following morning.
There is a look in the team’s eyes that wasn’t there the night before- today they will make multiple dreams come true.
Walking back towards Marvel chatting to Geoff Morris, who is entering his 12th draft as a recruiter, he comments on how much change he has seen in the prospects over that time.
Under-age programs and greater football education have seen these boys fast track their development and quickly become men.
“These days, the majority of players you meet, you’d be willing to welcome into your club,” he says.
Where last night had a more relaxed vibe, this morning it is completely different- the discussion has a much more serious tone.
Pick trading has completely changed the face of the draft. There is no certainty in what the day holds.
As he was last night, CEO Justin Reeves is sitting in on the discussion. He is no novice to these situations, having been to five drafts before, and he is attentive and engaged in the conversations of list management.
At Pick 38, Essendon nominates Hawks NGA prospect Irving Mosquito. The group would love to see the small forward become a Hawk but ultimately the bid is not matched and Mosquito becomes a Bomber.
Pick trade offers now begin flowing through regularly. Wright and McKenzie are both getting calls and texts on their own phones, while the landline in the room is also being used.
Offers are proposed much more informally than I had expected, reminding me of my own AFL Fantasy league, with trades floated casually and denied quickly and without fuss.
Most of Wright and McKenzie’s calls end with them saying words to the effect of: “I doubt it, mate, but we’ll let you know.”
What strikes you as these offers are devised is not only the intimate knowledge of the Hawks’ list but also every single other team’s list movement, their needs and their preferences at trade table.
As the Hawks’ first selection approaches, the team identifies a key-position defender out of the Murray Bushrangers who becomes a realistic chance. His name is Jacob Koschitzke.
Watch: Koschitzke's highlights
When Koschitzke is still available at the Hawks’ pick, without the need for a trade, there is a great level of satisfaction across the room.
11 picks later, a similar process occurs with another Bushranger, Mathew Walker.
This time, a trade to land the necessary pick is reached incredibly smoothly with Collingwood. A phone call, a 30 second conversation, and the deal is done.
With Pick 63, Walker becomes a Hawk.
In the time between the national and rookie drafts, there is little break for the team. They work to assess their remaining prospects and order them in a list of preference.
The session is honest and the assessments are at times brutal. But, there is no time for the fluff.
Varying opinions make for good discussion, and it’s clear each recruiter has their favoured options.
Wright constantly prompts further analysis with simple but penetrating questions: can he kick? Can he run? Is he competitive? Where is he from? Is he a good character? Does he have versatility?
The rookie draft is a blur with names being punched through almost every 30 seconds.
Damon Greaves, a defender out of Western Australia, and Will Golds, an elite endurance runner from Melbourne, were top priorities. Finally, the team complete their list, adding the experience of former Giant Tim Mohr to boost the squad’s defensive stocks.
A sigh of relief; the 2018 draft period is over.
Handshakes are exchanged around the room, before Wright and McKenzie disappear to call and welcome the latest batch of recruits to the club.
Everyone is content.
But the unique reality of their caper is that they will not know the true level of their success for many years to come.
Well before then, in March next year, they will head out around the grounds in search of the next wave of Hawthorn talent.
Several more months of sitting in the rain at North Ballarat, watching pre-season training sessions, talking to school teachers, and scouring hundreds of games of football in preparation, before they come back to Marvel Stadium to do it all again.
