CARLTON List Manager Michael Agresta believes it’ll be a case of the Blues selecting the best available player with each pick.

The 2018 National Draft kicks off at Marvel Stadium tomorrow night, with Carlton to select potentially four players over the two-day event. The rookie draft will then follow later on Friday evening.

While the speculation and excitement has peaked in recent weeks, the work for Agresta and Carlton’s recruiting team goes back to a much earlier date.

“The work definitely hasn’t just started post-AFL season. In terms of profiling, some of the work has gone on for three years,” Agresta said.

“There’s real excitement heading into tomorrow night, having the first pick and potentially the best young player in the country joining our club.”

It’ll be new territory for Agresta, who will partake in his first draft at Carlton after arriving as List Manager. He spent seven years at Sydney as National Recruiting Manager.

He said Carlton had searched far and wide for potential talent, and tomorrow would mark the end of a long process.

“The team does a lot of work with their profiling, skill and psych as well. I think with all picks, we’ll look at the best available player,” he said.

“Our team puts just as much work into picks Nos.69, 71 and 77 as they do with the No.1 pick.”

Agresta echoed the sentiments surrounding this year’s talent pool, saying the upper echelon of talent rated with the very best drafts.

“With every draft, the top-end is really exciting but it’s great for the Club to have the first choice this year,” he said.

“I think there’s a clear four or five who would hold their own as a top-two pick in previous drafts.”

Meanwhile, he said the Blues were hoping to add some quality with their later picks in the draft.

“I think there’s a lot of value late in the draft. Historically, there are players who slide through for different reasons,” he said.

“We’ve done a lot of work with scenario building. We’ve prepared ourselves for every scenario.”