Port Adelaide could redraft Nathan Krakouer in AFL rookie draft PORT Adelaide could pull off a draft shock and reignite the AFL career of Nathan Krakouer. The Power is considering redrafting Krakouer in Wednesday’s rookie draft four years after the former second-round draft pick walked out on the club to join Gold Coast. “He’s one of the players we will talk about,’’ Port recruiting manager Geoff Parker said. “Nathan’s been around the place (at Alberton) and we know he can play. That’s why we picked him in the second round a few years ago and it’s why Gold Coast chased him. “Now we’ll just have to evaluate him, as we will do with every player who is left over (from the national draft).’’ Silky-skilled half-forward Krakouer, 26, was drafted at pick 39 by the Power at the 2006 national draft but after playing 40 games in four years he walked out on the club to join the Suns for their inaugural AFL season. At the time, Port football operations manager Peter Rohde said the Power was “very disappointed at the way the matter has been handled’’. The nephew of former North Melbourne greats Jimmy and Phil Krakouer, Nathan didn’t last long at Gold Coast, playing 13 games in 2011 before quitting the AFL for “personal reasons’’. But he returned to Port with “a clean slate’’ as a top-up player for its SANFL team this year and impressed, starring in the Magpies’ grand final loss to Norwood with three goals. Parker said Krakouer had proven he is ready for another shot at big-time football. “I think that was part of the reason he wanted to come back and play at the Magpies, to get a feel of things and see whether he could actually physically and mentally do it again,’’ Parker said. “He had a good season, he’s played with our second group all season and he’s seen what our (Power) guys have had to do. He understands our structures and he’s seen the workload that’s involved so we’ll make a decision based on all of that.’’ Krakouer believes he has “grown up a lot in the past couple of years’’ but complicating his hopes of an AFL recall is that Port will have only one live selection at the rookie draft. This is after committing to 117-game veteran Tom Logan, 29, who it delisted but assured it would re-select as a rookie. The Power has already signed Sam Gray and Sam Russell as second-year rookies and Daniel Flynn and Johann Wagner as category B rookies. Port is likely to redraft Logan with its second available draft pick, leaving it to make a big decision over who to take at pick 16. “We’ll have some more discussion on that,’’ Parker said.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 23:43:08 +0000
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