The Calder Cannons have turned their attention to Friday’s rookie draft, after no Cannons players were selected in Tuesday night’s AFL National Draft.
Unlike last year when the Cannons were the kings of the draft, this year saw several highly fancied Cannons players miss out.
Nick O’Kearney, Hisham Kerbatieh and Callum Moore, who were all expected to be in the mix to be picked up, were among the Cannons boys not selected .
Cannons talent manager Ian Kyte said he had spoke to boys about the disappointing draft night and what is next.
“It’s disappointing for the boys,” Kyte said.
“They have worked really hard to achieve their goals.
“We spoke to them last night and we spoke to them before the draft about the different paths the drafts can take.
“Now it’s on to stage two which is the rookie draft.
“These days with the way clubs are run there isn’t much difference between the senior list and rookie list.”
Kyte said the boys would all train with the Cannons summer training squad tomorrow night.
“It’s time to get their heads back into football and get themselves in the best possible position to get picked up.
“If they don’t get drafted it is onto stage three.”
Kyte said four Cannons remained good chances of being picked up in the rookie draft.
O’Kearney and Moore seem the best chances to realise their AFL dreams, while Tom Wallis is likely to join Essendon under the father-son rule, after the club told him they would select him.
Kyte said Kerbatieh was the other player who was a good chance of being picked up.
