Exciting young forward Harrison Jones is now a Bomber after being swept up with Essendon’s first selection of the NAB AFL Draft on Thursday evening.

The Bombers traded up the draft order – gaining picks 30 and 50 from North Melbourne for pick 35 and a future second-round selection – to use pick 30 to secure the key-position goalkicker. 

The Calder Cannon – who grew up barracking for Essendon – is a strong-marking forward who impressed at the 2019 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, playing all four games for Vic Metro and averaging 9.2 disposals, 3.2 marks and a goal a match to top off a strong NAB League season.

General manager of list and recruiting Adrian Dodoro said the club rated the talented youngster as a round-one selection and was thrilled to rise up the draft list to secure his services.

"Quite simply, we rated Harry as a first-round draft selection and when he got there overnight and missed out in the first round, we decided that we wanted to target him and get him to our club." Dodoro said on Thursday.

"He’s tall and a phenomenal athlete. He’s going to take a bit of time obviously, but I think long term he and Joey (Daniher) in our forward half will be pretty dynamic.

"It is nice, he’s an Essendon Grammar boy (from the) Calder Cannons, he lives down at Gisborne. He’s a great young fella and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do in the future."

HARRISON JONES
Club – Calder Cannons
Height – 194cm
Weight – 75kg

U18 championship stats
Games – 4
Goals – 4
Average disposals – 9.2
Average marks – 3.3 

NAB League stats
Games – 12
Goals – 8
Average disposals – 11.3
Average marks – 3.2

This news is brought to you by Orchard HRO, the club's official recruitment and list management partner.