What a night!

After heading into the first evening of the 2018 NAB AFL Draft holding only the No.1 pick, the Blues took advantage of the AFL’s new live trading rules to also secure the services of midfielder Liam Stocker. 

In a surprise move, Carlton traded its future first-round pick to the Adelaide Crows in exchange for their No.19 pick and 2019 first-round selection. The Blues then swooped on the 2018 Morrish Medal winner with pick No.19.

Earlier in the night, joint captains Patrick Cripps and Sam Docherty presented Sam Walsh with a Carlton guernsey, after the Blues selected the under-18 All-Australian captain with their No.1 pick.

Jumping straight into media commitments after exiting the stage, Walsh couldn’t hide his excitement.

“To get my named called out by an AFL club is a dream come true and I’m stoked to be at the Carlton Football Club. I can’t wait to get stuck into training and train alongside Paddy Cripps and Sam Docherty, it’s surreal,” Walsh told SEN.

Speaking to media post-formalities, GM of List Management and Strategy Stephen Silvagni said he was delighted to draft Walsh and explained they had no option but to seize on the opportunity to acquire Stocker.

“To be able to do that deal by basically shuffling our first-round pick, we felt we were bringing in another talented midfielder a year early,” Silvagni said.

Click here for your chance to meet our No.1 pick and receive a 2019 guernsey by Sam Walsh.

“We rate Liam, he’s highly competitive, so we’re really happy that we’ve been able to bring two quality midfielders through the door.”

The Club’s decision to pull the surprise deal with Adelaide wasn’t out of the Blue, with Silvagni clarifying discussions had taken place prior to the draft.

“We had spoken to the Crows about three or four days ago and then there were a couple of other discussions with other clubs, so it didn’t just happen on the run on the night, we’d had previous discussions,” he said.

“We obviously started to make contact with them (Adelaide) at about pick 13 or 14, and then we were able to do the deal.

“I think he (Stocker) would have been snapped up not far after we picked him…we think he’s going to be a very good player for our footy club.”

With this year’s draft split over two nights, Silvagni said he and his recruiting team would have further discussions in the morning about the plan for tomorrow.

“Tomorrow could be about positional needs, but generally I would think one of those two picks – I think we’d use two more picks in this draft – we might go for a need, but generally you go for the best available.”

Stay tuned to Carlton Media tomorrow for all the action from day two of the 2018 NAB AFL Draft.