Dodoro and his team of spotters have been travelling Australia for the past eight months trying to locate and determine the hottest young talent going around. He will showcase his findings this week when he accompanies, Kevin Sheedy, Mark Harvey, Dean Wallis and club physiotherapist, Bruce Connor, to the Draft Camp.
The 2004 AFL Draft Camp is being held at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. Seventy under-18 players have been invited by the AFL to participate in the three-day camp. Each player undergoes intense physical testing including – speed, agility, strength, endurance and also psychological tests.
""I basically walk the coaches through each player and tell them about their strengths and weaknesses and how they might fit into our program,"" Dodoro said.
""The Draft Camp is a good opportunity as a football department to strategise and work out exactly what we want to do in terms of our list for 2005. We weigh up whether it is a good draft and we trade for picks picks or whether we go the other way and try and find an established player,"" he said.
At this stage Essendon has draft pick 14, 36, 46, 62 heading into the National AFL Draft on Saturday, November 20th. Depending on what the coaching panel decides about the quality of players at the Draft Camp, Essendon could opt to trade some of their draft choices during the Trade period, which officially starts next Monday, October 4th and finishes on Friday, October 8th.
Dodoro’s work has been continual all year, but the Draft Camp is the start of the business end of the year for him. ""My short list of potential draftees has been put together well before the Draft Camp. After the camp, it is a matter of getting the coaches’ opinions on different players and discussing individuals.
""It is about being transparent with the coaches. They have to be a major part of the process. There is no point bringing players to the club that the coaching staff don’t want to play.""
The coaching panel gets the opportunity to interview selected players at the Draft Camp as well. Dodoro said this is a good chance for the coaches to find out a bit more about each player and their personality.
""For example, Dean Wallis might be looking at a backline player and we have selected four as potential draftees. Wally might interview them and say I like that particular player because he had a good attitude. Then he might ask me for more information on that particular kid.
""This is a good process because when we do draft them, the coaching panel are far more familiar with them. It is also good because the coaches give you support on the table on Draft day,"" Dodoro said.
