The ability of the Richmond recruiters to find ‘hidden gems’ should engender plenty of confidence among Yellow and Black barrackers for next week’s AFL national and rookie drafts.

Emphatic evidence of this is the fact that the Tigers’ 2019 premiership team included seven players who weren’t even national draft selections, and another one that was taken at pick 67 overall in the national draft.

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Dylan Grimes was the Club’s first pick (No. 2 overall) in the 2010 pre-season draft, Jayden Short, Jason Castagna, Kane Lambert and Ivan Soldo were all 2015 rookie draft selections, Nathan Broad was that pick 67 in the 2016 national draft, Liam Baker was a 2018 rookie draft choice, while Marlion Pickett landed at Tigerland via the competition’s reintroduced mid-season draft this year.

And it wasn’t as though Short, Castagna, Lambert, Soldo or Baker were early rookie-draft picks either.

Short was No. 11 overall, Castagna No. 29, Lambert No. 46 and Soldo No. 68 in the 2015 rookie draft, with Baker No. 18 in 2018.