When the first round of the NAB AFL Draft wrapped up on Wednesday night, Adrian Dodoro was pleasantly surprised to see young gun Harry Jones still available.

Essendon’s general manager of list and recruiting had his eye on the exciting key forward and was more than happy to trade up the draft order to secure the goalkicker.

The Bombers passed on pick 35 and a future second-round selection to North Melbourne in exchange for picks 30 and 50, quickly pouncing on Jones with their first selection of the draft.

“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.”

Jones is a passionate Essendon supporter who has long been under the nose of the club at the Calder Cannons and secondary school PEGS, and Dodoro was thrilled to realise the impressive youngster’s dreams on Thursday.

“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.”

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The Dons then addressed an important list need by bolstering the squad’s tall stocks in securing talented ruck Nick Bryan with pick 38, a rising player Dodoro says can team up perfectly with young Bomber Sam Draper in the future.

“Over the last couple of years, it had been an area where we just felt there hadn’t been a lot of ruckmen around.

“This kid’s a quality ruckman; the number-one ruckman for Vic Metro this year, 203cm, he’s got a great tank.

“Long term I can see him and Sammy Draper in about three or four years time just being a great combination for our club.

“We wanted to get the tall area of our list sorted out tonight and I think we did that.”

Quality goalsneak Ned Cahill was next on Essendon’s radar and the Dons had no hesitation in taking the dangerous forward with selection 56.

Dodoro praised the athletic Dandenong Stingrays product and said the club is hopeful he can eventually push into the midfield.

"He’s a good little player – he’s got a massive motor and great goal sense," Dodoro said on Thursday.

"He predominantly plays as a forward, but because of his engine and his smarts, we think he can go in the midfield.

"We think he’s an exciting player and a good pick late, so we’re really happy to get him."

The club’s final pick was worth waiting for as the Bombers’ plan to hang on to Next Generation Academy and James Hird Academy member Lachlan Johnson came to fruition.

The son of three-time Brisbane Lions premiership player Chris Johnson would have been lost to the Lions had he made it through to Friday’s rookie draft.

Johnson won’t play in 2020 as he recovers from a knee reconstruction, but Dodoro said keeping him in the red and black is “a great story”.

“He was a guaranteed father-son (selection) with the Brisbane Lions if he went through to the rookie draft tomorrow. Our strategy was to take him with our last pick," Dodoro said on Thursday.

"He has got a knee issue, so he won’t play in 2020, but he’ll go on our inactive list and we’ll replace him in the next few weeks – we’ll have a look at a number of players."

Dodoro highlighted the similarities between Johnson and his champion father and said he expects the young gun to make his mark at AFL level.

"It’s fantastic, he’s been on our doorstep living basically up the road.

"He’s very much cut from the same cloth (as his father); he’s tough, he just gets it and we know once he gets an engine he is going to be a fabulous AFL player."

Dodoro said fans can expect the Bombers to use one pick at the rookie draft and hinted the club could secure another player in the upcoming supplemental selection period (SSP).

“We’ll catch up now, have a bit of a chat and reassess,” he said.

“We’ll take one pick tomorrow and we have another player coming on board hopefully as an SSP recruit in the next few days as well.”