ONE DAY prior to the draft, Head of List Management Nick Austin outlined Carlton’s priorities: a small forward, a midfielder and defensive depth.

Consider those boxes ticked.

When it was all said and done, the Blues welcomed Corey Durdin, Jack Carroll and Luke Parks to Ikon Park via the national and rookie drafts.

With Carlton entering in the second round after a long wait, Austin said it was a mix that the Club was pleased with.

“We’re really positive. The needs we wanted to try and address with our selections, I feel we were able to do that,” Austin said.

“Corey’s a small forward, Jack is a versatile, inside-outside running midfielder and Luke being a versatile defender woh can win the ball in the air and also compete at ground level.”

With no action taking place in Victoria in 2020, the Blues relied heavily on their South and Western Australian scouts, ending with two players from the SANFL and one from the WAFL.

Austin said each player brought their own strengths to the table and marked great stories given the difficulty of the season itself.

In doing so, Carlton welcomed a player who has featured at senior SANFL level since he was 16, the youngest player in the draft and a player who overcame the disappointment of last year to earn a spot on an AFL list.

“We love the way Corey goes about it. He’s got speed, he really hunts the ball and the man and he’s an elite tackler, which we love our smaller forwards to have in their repertoire,” he said.

“Jack’s a young one, he doesn’t turn 18 until December 20. In terms of his development and upside, there’s still a bit to go with Jack: he’s a great size at 187 centimetres and he’s really tough at the source.

“Luke is a good story. To make the move over to the SANFL and back himself in at Glenelg, who were the reigning premiers, and play every game and perform as consistently as he did, we’re really pleased.”

The Blues now have one list spot free, which Austin said Carlton would assess over the course of pre-season.

“We’ll leave a list spot open for some train-on players,” he said.

“We’ll go through the order and see which other players we can bring and invite to pre-season and work through it that way.”