As in previous years, Richmond’s recruitment department has a clear strategy when it comes to November's National Draft.
“The number one thing we look at when we watch them play is how competitive they are,” Clarke said in an interview with Roar Vision from the 2014 AFL Combine at Etihad Stadium.
“AFL footy is a really tough game, as we all know. It looks pretty glamourous on the weekend for a couple of hours.
“But it’s the six, seven days a week that the guys are in at the Club. They get one day off, then the other six days they’re working as hard as they can.”
As it stands, Richmond has picks 11, 31 and 49 in the first three rounds of the 2014 National Draft.
“We’ll probably look to the best available talent with our first pick, then we’ll probably try to balance our list as we go through the draft,” he said.
“We obviously look at their kicking, but mainly the competitive side of the game. The endurance side of the game is probably becoming more paramount, as everyone would know with the rotation cap coming in.
“The beep test and the 3km time trial, which they’ll do here, combined with the GPS data which we get now from junior age footy during the year, helps us to put together all of the pieces of the puzzle.”
