Collingwood father-son pick Nick Daicos celebrates officially becoming a Pie with dad Peter and mum Colleen. Photo: AFL MEDIA

The AFL’s newest “big three” was officially unveiled on Wednesday night, with Jason Horne-Smith, Sam Darcy and Nick Daicos all making their way to their new clubs at the top end of the 2021 AFL draft.

But there was a “disruptor” among the pack, with Sandringham Dragons midfielder Finn Callaghan taken at pick three by Greater Western Sydney after the Giants opted against bidding on Daicos, who was taken by Collingwood as a father-son selection at pick four.

Gold Coast would be the club that bid on Daicos, and the Magpies had no hesitation in matching it.

Horne-Smith’s selection as the top pick in 2021 had been viewed as a fait accompli for some time, but the South Adelaide teenager was forced to wait before officially earning that title with two multi-pick trades taking place before North Melbourne read his name out.

Firstly, the Western Bulldogs traded pick 23 to Geelong in exchange for picks 32 and 34, and the Dogs then traded picks 32, 53 and a future third-round selection to North Melbourne for picks 42, 47 and a future third-round selection.

The reason for that was so the Dogs had enough points to match the bid the Giants made for father-son prospect Sam Darcy with the second overall pick.

The bolter of this year’s draft was Mac Andrew, who was originally a Melbourne Next Generation Academy player, but whom the Demons were not going to be able to match a bid for, Gold Coast swooping to snap him up with pick No.5.

Horne-Francis is going to be a most welcome addition to North Melbourne’s on-ball division, which is already looking very promising with the likes of Jy Simpkin, Jaidyn Stephenson, Tarryn Thomas and Luke Davies-Uniacke.

The 18-year-old is a powerful inside midfielder who not only knows how to hunt his own ball, but can also take a strong mark and showed while playing in the SANFL seniors this year what a talent he promises to be.

He averaged 17 touches a game and kicked 15 goals, but tellingly went to another level in the heat of finals, racking up 24 disposals (18 contested), 11 clearances and three of his team’s six goals in the Panthers’ preliminary final against Glenelg to be best on ground in a losing team.

If the Bulldogs thought Jamarra Ugle-Hagan would get tongues wagging last year as the No.1 pick, Darcy is set to have a similar impact this year, having been taken at No.2 – not a bad effort by a back-to-back finalist, and 2021 runner-up, to claim such highly-touted talent in consecutive years.

The son of former club champion Luke, and grandson of former Footscray defender David, this third-generation Bulldog has all the attributes to become a star.

Already 204 centimetres tall, and possibly still growing, the 18-year-old is a key position prospect who possesses fantastic athleticism, balance and skill, and it was his six-goal performance for Vic Metro this year that really made recruiters sit up and take notice.

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With the likes of Aaron Naughton, Tim English and Ugle-Hagan already at the club, Darcy is only going to add to the Bulldogs’ exciting crop of young tall talent.

Daicos sliding to pick four was somewhat surprising given he was touted by many onlookers as the best player of this year’s draft.

The son of the freakish “Macedonian Marvel” Peter, and brother of new teammate Josh, Daicos absolutely tore it up for the Oakleigh Chargers this year from the midfield, averaging 36 disposals and two goals in his five games for them to make a massive statement about his ability.

Not only does he have beautiful skills, but he has fantastic aerobic capacity and is a very good decision maker. All things being equal, he looks set to slot right into the Magpies’ engine room and don’t be surprised to see him selected for round one next year.

Callaghan is another superb midfielder who the Giants will be rapt to have their hands on. Reasonably tall at 189 centimetres, he has a booming kick on him and is a beautiful user of the ball, who really thrived playing a more inside role this year.

He’ll have his work cut out for himself to break into a midfield that already features Tim Taranto, Jacob Hopper, Josh Kelly, Lachie Whitfield, Callan Ward, Stephen Coniglio and Tom Green, but with an average of 24 touches in the NAB League this year, he is a proven ball winner and will at least ensure pressure for spots is on in earnest.

The Crows picked up dynamic forward-midfielder Josh Rachele with pick six, and the Hawks would be pretty chuffed at snaring the extremely consistent Josh Ward at pick seven after he captained the NAB League team of the year following a dominant season.

The Dockers bolstered their key forward stocks at pick eight with East Perth deadeye Jye Amiss, who defied his surname to kick a WAFL Colts best 51 goals this year.

Following the retirements of David Astbury and Bachar Houli, and the delisting of Ryan Garthwaite, Richmond began rebuilding its backline by recruiting two defenders with its first two picks – key backman Josh Gibcus at No.9 and medium defender Tom Brown at 17.

Completing the top 10 was prolific Subiaco ball winner Neil Erasmus, who made his way to the Dockers.

Coming in at No.11 was Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, the nephew of the legendary Gavin Wanganeen, who is one of the best kicks in the draft and now calls St Kilda home, while Port Adelaide traded pick 14 and a future second-rounder to West Coast in order to receive pick 12 and jump the queue to acquire half-back flanker Josh Sinn, who might end up as a midfielder.

Meanwhile, Ben Hobbs was another slider, who was expected to go further up in the draft, but landed at Essendon with pick 13. The GWV Rebels midfielder is a ball magnet who could end up being a real bargain and has the potential to complement an already-impressive Bomber engine room, which features the likes of Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish, Jake Stringer and Andrew McGrath.

The remainder of the 2021 AFL national draft will be held on Thursday night, and Fremantle will resume proceedings with pick 21.

2021 AFL National Draft
1. Jason Horne-Francis (South Adelaide) – North Melbourne
2. Sam Darcy (Oakleigh Chargers) – Western Bulldogs (matched GWS bid)
3. Finn Callaghan (Sandringham Dragons) – GWS
4. Nick Daicos (Oakleigh Chargers) – Collingwood (matched Gold Coast bid)
5. Mac Andrew (Dandenong Stingrays) – Gold Coast
6. Josh Rachele (Murray Bushrangers) – Adelaide
7. Josh Ward (Northern Knights) – Hawthorn
8. Jye Amiss (East Perth) – Fremantle
9. Josh Gibcus (GWV Rebels) – Richmond
10. Neil Erasmus (Subiaco) – Fremantle
11. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (Glenelg) – St Kilda
12. Josh Sinn (Sandringham Dragons) – Port Adelaide
13. Ben Hobbs (GWV Rebels) – Essendon
14. Campbell Chesser (Sandringham Dragons) – West Coast
15. Leek Aliir (Central District) – GWS
16. Darcy Wilmot (Northern Knights) – Brisbane
17. Tom Brown (Murray Bushrangers) – Richmond
18. Angus Sheldrick (Claremont) – Sydney
19. Jacob van Rooyen (Claremont) – Melbourne
20. Kai Lohmann (GWV Rebels) – Brisbane