Top three in the 2021 draft: Jason Horne-Francis (main), Sam Darcy (left) and Finn Callaghan (right). Photos: GETTY IMAGES

After a minor COVID scare, the 2021 AFL draft was completed on Thursday night with a further 45 players arriving at their new homes.

But before the final three rounds of picks could be read out, representatives from all 18 clubs were directed to remain in their Marvel Stadium corporate suites for the duration of the second night, while wearing masks, as an added precaution after a club staffer present at the venue on Wednesday night tested positive to COVID.

After the top 20 players were picked in the first round 24 hours prior, some famous names returned to their old clubs on Thursday night.

Jackson Archer (son of “Shinboner of the Century” Glenn) made his way to North Melbourne with pick 59, Jase Burgoyne (son of premiership player Peter) headed to Port Adelaide a selection later and Taj Woewodin (son of 2000 Brownlow Medallist Shane) landed at Melbourne with the 65th and final selection of the draft.

Former North Melbourne and Port Adelaide forward Daniel Motlop’s son Jesse was recruited by Carlton with pick 27, too.

Meanwhile, the Saints matched a pair of bids for their Next Generation Academy players Mitchito Owens and Marcus Windhager from Sydney and Geelong respectively at picks 33 and 47, and the Giants matched the Bulldogs’ bid for their academy player Josh Fahey at pick 42 – the Dogs perhaps exacting some revenge for GWS bidding on their father-son player Sam Darcy with the second overall selection.

And former Geelong youngster Charlie Constable was snapped up by Gold Coast with pick 63 after managing just 12 games in four years at Kardinia Park.

The feelgood stories of the night came in the form of mature-agers Garrett McDonagh (25) and Greg Clarke (24) who were picked up by Essendon (pick 50) and West Coast (pick 62) respectively.

ADELAIDE
2021 draftees: Joshua Rachele (Murray Bushrangers) – pick 6, Jake Soligo (Eastern Ranges) – pick 36, Zac Taylor (Calder Cannons) – pick 44
Another top-six pick for the Crows this year and they didn’t miss, selecting dangerous small forward Josh Rachele, who has been likened to Toby Greene (no pressure, or anything!). Capable of extraordinary things out on the park, the Murray Bushrangers product won the Kevin Sheehan Medal as the Division 1 most valuable player as well as the Vic Country MVP at the 2019 under-16 national championships. He has the potential to provide some serious spark in attack. Soligo is a ball magnet who can also have an impact in attack while the diminutive Taylor has beautiful skills, averaging 26 touches for Calder this year.

BRISBANE
2021 draftees: Darcy Wilmot (Northern Knights) – pick 16, Kai Lohmann (GWV Rebels) – pick 20, James Tunstill (East Perth) – pick 41
It hasn’t taken Wilmot long to become a cult figure following his memorable shout-out to Pepsi Max on Wednesday night, and the defender is sure to win even more fans in the Queensland capital if he can translate his brilliant underage form to the big time. Not only is he hard at it, but also has speed to burn which is a combination that has the potential to thrill Lions fans for years to come. It was a bit surprising to see Lohmann taken as their other top-20 pick, but he is an athletic-type forward who is capable of taking a big grab and is hard to catch. Tunstill is a promising midfielder who performed consistently at WAFL Colts level in 2021.

CARLTON
2021 draftees: Jesse Motlop (South Fremantle) – pick 27
Motlop was the Blues’ only pick in the national draft and is a bit of chip off the old block, considering he is an intelligent small forward just like his old man Daniel was. With his footy smarts and serious talent to burn, Carlton will be hoping Motlop will be able to eventually pick up where the retired Eddie Betts left off in that dangerous goalsneak role.

COLLINGWOOD
2021 draftees: Nick Daicos (Oakleigh Chargers) – pick 4, Arlo Draper (South Adelaide) – pick 45, Cooper Murley (Norwood) – pick 49, Harvey Harrison (North Adelaide) – pick 52
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. 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. Draper is a classy operator who can be used either in the midfield or up forward, Murley can also be used in either of those parts of the ground and is a lovely user of the ball while Harrison, too, is versatile with his speed and athleticism his major strengths.

ESSENDON
2021 draftees: Benjamin Hobbs (GWV Rebels) – pick 13, Alastair Lord (Norwood) – pick 46, Garrett McDonagh (Richmond VFL) – pick 50
Hobbs was considered a 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 midfield, which features the likes of Zach Merrett, Darcy Parish, Jake Stringer and Andrew McGrath. Lord can play in the middle or down back and is a strong run-and-carry-type footballer while McDonagh, who was first eligible to be drafted in 2014, impressed with Richmond’s VFL side this year as a rebounding defender.

FREMANTLE
2021 draftees: Jye Amiss (East Perth) – pick 8, Neil Erasmus (Subiaco) – pick 10, Matthew Johnson (Subiaco) – pick 21, Eric Benning (Claremont) – pick 54
The Dockers would’ve been stoked with their top-10 picks in Jye Amiss (eight) and Neil Erasmus (10). Amiss is a deadeye key forward, who kicked a WAFL Colts best 51 goals this year, and will provide valuable assistance to the likes of Matt Taberner and Rory Lobb in attack. Erasmus is a prolific ball winner who further bolsters the Dockers’ young and talented midfield which contains Andrew Brayshaw and Caleb Serong. The big-bodied Johnson was seen as a bit of a slider so Freo would’ve been rapt to grab him with the 21st pick as well. Like Erasmus, Johnson is a talented on-baller and, with Adam Cerra having joined Carlton, will be seen to compensate for that loss along with Erasmus. Benning is a mobile ruck-forward who has a beautiful leap and can prove a handful in attack.

GEELONG
2021 draftees: Toby Conway (Geelong Falcons) – pick 24, Mitchell Knevitt (Geelong Falcons) – pick 25, James Willis (North Adelaide) – pick 32, Flynn Kroeger (Eastern Ranges) – pick 48, Cooper Whyte (Geelong Falcons) – pick 64
The Cats’ biggest issue for many years has been their ruck department and they went a long way to finally remedying that by taking Conway with their first pick. The 204cm 18-year-old is considered the best pure ruckman of the 2021 crop. He can take a strong mark but is no slouch when the ball hits the ground either and is a strong stoppage player. Knevitt is a big-bodied inside midfielder who comes to Geelong as Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield enter the twilights of their career, and the Cats will hope that he regularly accepts hitouts from Conway one day. Willis a strongly-built utility who has a serious burst of speed, Kroeger is an explosive and powerful midfielder who can also play down back and Whyte is a good clearance on-baller.

GOLD COAST
2021 draftees: Mac Andrew (Dandenong Stingrays) – pick 5, Charlie Constable (Geelong) – pick 63
Andrew was the bolter of this year’s draft and was originally a Melbourne Next Generation Academy player, but the Demons weren’t able to match any bid for him. The ruck-forward got better as the year went on, so much so that he became a top-five pick. He oozes x-factor and possesses freakish athleticism. He is just what the Suns need as their ruck department is quite thin. Meanwhile, Constable gets a second chance at AFL level after being starved of opportunities at Geelong whose strategy of recruiting older players in recent years to remain in premiership contention has made it very hard for younger players to get a decent crack. But he has shown some promising glimpses, especially against Melbourne and North Melbourne back in 2019 when he registered 31 and 27 touches respectively.

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GWS
2021 draftees: Finn Callaghan (Sandringham Dragons) – pick 3, Leek Aleer (Central District) – pick 15, Josh Fahey (GWS Giants Academy) – pick 42
Callaghan is another superb on-baller who the Giants will be rapt to add to their midfield depth. 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. As his selection at pick three suggests, he is one of the best players of the 2021 draft and will be a welcome addition to the Giants list. Aleer is a mature-age recruit at 20 years old who went to another level in the SANFL this year playing as an athletic defender. He has enormous upside and the Giants will be hoping he can compliment the likes of Sam Taylor and Nick Haynes down back. Fahey is also a defender who has plenty of toe and has a lovely kick on him.

HAWTHORN
2021 draftees: Joshua Ward (Northern Knights) – pick 7, Sam Butler (GWV Rebels) – pick 23, Jai Serong (Gippsland Power) – pick 53
The Hawks would be pretty chuffed at snaring the extremely consistent Ward at pick seven after he captained the NAB League team of the year following a dominant season for the Northern Knights. The lifelong Hawthorn supporter averaged 30 touches and five tackles a game in 2021 to be one of the competition’s standout midfielders. Butler is an extremely versatile midfielder/forward who prides himself on his one-percenters, Macdonald is an inside midfielder who racks up the possessions and Serong (192cm) is much taller than his more-established brother Caleb (178cm), but in keeping with the modern trend, he can basically play any position despite his height.

MELBOURNE
2021 draftees: Jacob Van Rooyen (Claremont) – pick 19, Blake Howes (Sandringham Dragons) – pick 39, Taj Woewodin (East Fremantle) – pick 65
Van Rooyen is a key position player who can play at either end of the ground. He might wind up in attack eventually and join forces with Ben Brown, Tom McDonald and potentially Sam Weideman, or he could even head down back to assist the likes of Steven May, Jake Lever, Harrison Petty and Adam Tomlinson. He has the potential to really stamp his authority wherever he plays given the uncompromising style of player he is. Howes is also versatile and can play either as an outside midfielder or tall forward while Woewodin is a utility who is capable of having an impact in whichever role he is assigned.

NORTH MELBOURNE
2021 draftees: Jason Horne-Francis (South Adelaide) – pick 1, Josh Goater (Calder Cannons) – pick 22, Paul Curtis (Western Jets) – pick 35, Miller Bergman (Dandenong Stingrays) – pick 38, Jackson Archer (Northern Knights) – pick 59
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. Goater looks to be a bit of a slider, touted as a first-round pick but winding up with the Roos at pick 22. The tall and athletic midfielder can be played just about anywhere on the park, and is an extremely exciting prospect. Curtis is a promising small forward who knows where the big sticks are, Bergman is a versatile outside utility, and Archer has strong defensive attributes like his father.

PORT ADELAIDE
2021 draftees: Joshua Sinn (Sandringham Dragons) – pick 12, Hugh Jackson (North Adelaide) – pick 55, Dante Visentini (Sandringham Dragons) – pick 56, Jase Burgoyne (Woodville-West Torrens) – pick 60
The Power rate Sinn very highly given they traded pick 14 and a future second-rounder to West Coast in order to receive pick 12 and jump the queue to acquire the half-back flanker. And it’s not hard to see why. Sinn is a damaging rebounding defender who might even end up as a midfielder further down the track. Despite his 2021 being hampered by numerous injuries, his quality is such that he still got selected in the first round. Jackson almost had to be hospitalised with leather poisoning this year after averaging 29 touches a game for North Adelaide in the SANFL under-18s, Visentini is a key tall who can be used in a variety of positions and Burgoyne is a smooth-moving defender.

RICHMOND
2021 draftees: Joshua Gibcus (GWV Rebels) – pick 9, Tom Brown (Murray Bushrangers) – pick 17, Tyler Sonsie (Eastern Ranges) – pick 28, Samuel Banks (Tasmania Devils) – pick 29, Judson Clarke (Dandenong Stingrays) – pick 30
Following the retirements of David Astbury and Bachar Houli, and the delisting of Ryan Garthwaite, Richmond began rebuilding its backline by recruiting key backman Gibcus at pick No.9 and a pair of medium defenders in Brown and Banks at 17 and 29 respectively. So impressive has Gibcus been at underage level that he is widely considered to be the standout tall defender of the draft. Brown is an excellent decision-maker who can run all day and Banks is an accurate user of the ball who can also spend time in the midfield. Sonsie does his best work at the coalface of the stoppages and is superbly skilled on both sides of his body while the zippy Clarke is one of the quickest players to be picked at this year’s draft and is a small forward who will put some heat on the likes of Jason Castagna and Jake Aarts.

ST KILDA
2021 draftees: Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera (Glenelg) – pick 11, Mitchito Owens (Sandringham Dragons) – pick 33, Marcus Windhager (Sandringham Dragons) – pick 47, Oscar Adams (Glenelg) – pick 51
The Saints landed one of the draft’s more interesting prospects at No.11 in Wanganeen-Milera, the nephew of the legendary Gavin Wanganeen, who is one of the best kicks in the draft. He played in a reserves premiership with Glenelg this year after a handful of games at senior level. Owens is a medium-sized forward who can also play inside midfield and use his height at stoppages, having grown 10 centimetres over the past year. Windhager is an explosive midfielder who is a contested ball winner with the ability to find space in heavy traffic, and last pick Adams is a durable tall defender with good intercept ability.

SYDNEY
2021 draftees: Angus Sheldrick (Claremont) – pick 18, Matthew Roberts (South Adelaide) – pick 34, Corey Warner (East Fremantle) – pick 40, Lachlan Rankin (Oakleigh Chargers) – pick 58
The Swans only had one pick in the first 30-odd of this draft, but used it wisely on left-footed small midfielder Sheldrick, whose attack on the ball and good hands have been compared to Bulldog star Tom Liberatore. A clutch of further picks in the 30-50 range added three more to the mix, strongly-built South Australian midfielder Roberts, Corey Warner, the younger brother of emerging Swans star Chad Warner, and a smart medium-sized forward in Rankin.

WEST COAST
2021 draftees: Campbell Chesser (Sandringham Dragons) – pick 14, Brady Hough (Peel Thunder) – pick 31, Rhett Bazzo (Swan Districts) – pick 37, Jack Williams (East Fremantle) – pick 57, Greg Clark (Subiaco) – pick 62
The Eagles used their first pick on Victorian Chesser, a line-breaking, long-kicking midfielder who went a little earlier than expected on Wednesday evening. The WA club’s remaining four selections were expended on local talent. At No.31, they selected another composed mid with an eye for a goal in Brady Hough, at 37 took a genuine swingman in Bazzo, who has impressed at state level in both defence and attack, with 57 picked 195-centimetre tall forward Williams to help replace some ageing warriors close to goal, and with the final pick took 24-year-old mature age midfielder Clark, a near-100 game WAFL players who has three premiership medals with Subiaco.

WESTERN BULLDOGS
2021 draftees: Sam Darcy (Oakleigh Chargers) – pick 2, Arthur Jones (Claremont) – pick 43, Luke Cleary (Sandringham Dragons) – pick 61
The Dogs had landed Darcy, the highly-touted son of former club champion Luke Darcy at No.2 on Wednesday night. 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. The 2021 runner-up completed its draft haul on Thursday evening by selecting exciting wingman Jones, who caught the eye with a standout performance in a curtain-raiser to the AFL grand final at Optus Stadium, and intercept defender Luke Cleary, who was runner-up in Sandringham Dragons’ best-and-fairest award this year.

– with ROHAN CONNOLLY