Shaun Mannagh's excellent VFL form has paid off at last with Geelong giving the 26-year-old forward a belated shot at the AFL.
The Cats are also renowned for looking carefully to their backyard for talent and have done it again, making the surprise pick of Tuesday night's later rounds by recruiting unheralded Barwon Heads player Oliver Wiltshire at No.61.
Mannagh had put himself firmly on the draft radar by kicking six goals for Werribee in their VFL grand-final loss to Gold Coast.
Every player called out before Mannagh in the draft was born in 2005 - the No.36 selection is a 1997 product.
There had been talk Mannagh could have been recruited through the mid-season draft.
"Shaun's a player we think deserves an opportunity on an AFL list, obviously, his performances over the last couple of years have been terrific," said veteran Cats recruiter Stephen Wells.
"We'd actually made up our mind before the (VFL) grand final that we were very keen on Shaun - in some ways, we were disappointed he played so well."
While Mannagh's excellent VFL form - and especially his outstanding grand final - meant his selection was no great surprise, Wiltshire was one from the blue.
"The Geelong region is a great footy area ... there's great talent down in Geelong, it's for everyone to see," Wells said.
He added Wiltshire, 21, previously played a few games for the U18 Geelong Falcons without success, but had improved dramatically over the last couple of seasons.
After Monday night's 29 first-round selections, Tuesday evening featured another 35 picks.
Also on Tuesday night, Sandringham backman Ollie Murphy finally went to Fremantle at No.41, late in the second round, after he was touted as a potential first-round recruit.
While there was some trading of picks, it was nowhere near the level of Monday night, which featured 29 selections for round one.
After picking Harley Reid as No.1, West Coast also had the first selection in round two at No.30 and went for key forward Archer Reid, the younger brother of Essendon key position player Zach.
Brisbane had their first pick of the draft at 30 and snapped up forward Logan Morris - like Reid, widely tipped to have been taken early in Monday's selections.
Tew Jiath, the younger brother of Hawthorn defender Chankuoth, was picked up by Collingwood at 37.
The younger Jiath revealed he is a Collingwood fan - not the Hawks - and the halfback said Magpies star Scott Pendlebury is his favourite player.
Luamon Lual, another player whose family came to Australia from South Sudan, was snapped up by Essendon at No.39.
That was significant because if he had been in the pool for one more pick, the Western Bulldogs could have bidded for him as one of their next generation academy players.
Jiath (Hawthorn) and Mitch Edwards (Fremantle), who went to Geelong with pick 32, were other NGA players snapped up by rival clubs before the No.40 threshold.
Big-kicking Tasmanian Arie Schoenmaker, who served a 10-week ban with the Tasmanian Devils earlier this year after he bought alcohol for teammates, had to wait until pick 62 for St Kilda to recruit him.
The week's drafting ends on Wednesday afternoon with the pre-season and rookie selections.
Australian Associated Press
