Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro provides his analysis following Tuesday's AFL pre-season and rookie drafts.

What the recruiter said

"We really only had the one live pick today and we had to make the call on who we thought was the best available with what we needed. We wanted a midfielder to player with high endurance; an engine that can go up and down the ground, and we think Will is the man for us." – list manager Adrian Dodoro.

Pre-Season draft

Pick 6: Will Hams (Gippsland Power)

Dodoro says: "He's about a 180cm midfielder with a big engine; he's a really impressive young man with some excellent leadership skills. We trialled five or six boys, and he was the standout of them. He caught our eye during the course of the year; he's been coached by Nick Stevens, who we have a really good relationship with, and he'd been promoting him all year. We had considered him in the national draft – we rated him highly then – and he wasn't taken so we kept our fingers crossed he was a chance to be here in the pre-season draft."

Rookie draft

Pick 8: Ariel Steinberg (Essendon)

Dodoro says: "It was more of a tactical move – you move a player from your primary list to your rookie list, which has come into list management in the last year or so. It wasn't a reflection on him – it was purely a list management decision as we wanted to bolster our midfield. We just wanted to give ourselves the flexibility of looking at a player that played in a different position to Ariel. He's trained exceptionally well and we still hold high hopes for him."