Richmond National Recruiting Manager, Rhy Gieschen, has provided an insight into the players the Tigers are looking at with the second selection in next month’s AFL Draft. 

Speaking on AFL Trade Radio on Tuesday, Gieschen explained how planning for the draft is reaching the pointy end, with Richmond holding picks 2, 20 and 42.

“There's obviously the two aligned boys [Cody Walker and Dougie Cochrane] who are right at the top. If we take them out, there's probably five or six players that we're looking at and that it's down to for us,” Gieschen said.

“We've done a power of work with the whole pool, and you never know where your pick is going to spit out. It's been looking likely that we'd have a top-end pick for quite a while and we're really comfortable with the work that we've done there.

“We had our final touch points with them at the combine last week and just need to go away as a team and do our order and wait to see who Essendon pick at the top. 

“Definitely there's some real top-end talent, and it’s still pretty even…excited to use that pick.”

While draft surprises can always happen, and the Club’s final rankings aren’t set yet, Gieschen praised the talent of Walker, Cochrane, Ethan Drever, Gus Teixeira, Arki Butler, Harry Van Hattum, Heath Mellody and Ethan Matthews as potential top picks.

The debate around drafting the best talent available or targeting a specific position of need is always lively, but Gieschen was clear in Richmond’s plan.

“It's a boring answer, but honestly, we're just going to go with the player that we think will be the best player for us,” he said.

“Our positional needs now will be different to what our positional needs are in four years' time when these players are 22, and in eight years' time when they're 26. 

“I think whenever you're dealing with top-end draft picks, you just pick the guy that you think is going to be the best AFL player and that's when you can look at things like list management to work through the rest of your list and what that looks like. 

“We won't be bypassing a player that we feel like we've already got positional depth in, we're just going to bring in the guy that we think will be the best player for Richmond long-term.” 

Gieschen recently returned from Ireland, with two Irish players to join Richmond’s pre-season to trial for the vacant Category B Rookie list spot.

“It was a great trip. We ran a combine and got to know quite a few of the players, did a few home visits,” he said.

“We've got a couple [players] coming out and they'll join in with our one-to-four year boys and we've only got one Cat B spot. Essentially, they'll be trialling for that last Cat B spot on our list, and we are really excited about that. 

“Both players can really run, they've got speed, they're high-end characters. They're a little bit older, we're excited to see what they can bring to the table in their trial. 

“The boys know there's no guarantees and they're coming over here to trial for it, but we're pretty invested in Ireland, and we wouldn't be bringing them over if we didn't think they could really contribute to the Club. 

“The plan will be to offer a spot at the end of it, but they know that there's no guarantees. You're always looking at different options with the Cat B but I'm really hopeful that we can offer one of them a spot at the end of that trial.”

With the player movement season in full swing, Richmond has bolstered its list with the additions of ruckman Kieren Briggs and wingman Nathan O’Driscoll.

Speaking before the O’Driscoll deal was made, Gieschen said the Club will continue to “stay really open” to discussions. 

“It's always busy just with the amount of conversations that are happening between club to club, and it's always sort of ever-changing,” he said about the trade and free agency period.

“We'll just stay really open to those conversations. Blair [Hartley] looks after that part of our business and has really strong relationships with all the clubs. Always open to talks to see how it unfolds for us. 

“We've got some really attractive picks in the draft as well. We won't be forcing anything but we, as every club does, assess all the options and what it looks like.

“Never say never and it's a great time of year because it's ever-changing, so we will just see how it unfolds.”