Fabulous four - Pioneers quartet selected in AFL national draft

Updated November 6 2012 - 9:21pm, first published November 25 2007 - 5:00pm
BROTHERS IN ARMS: Troy, Adam, Joel and Scott Selwood after Scott was drafted by West Coast on Saturday.
BROTHERS IN ARMS: Troy, Adam, Joel and Scott Selwood after Scott was drafted by West Coast on Saturday.

FOUR Bendigo Pioneer players have been given the chance to forge an AFL career.Pioneer players Robbie Tarrant, Scott Selwood, Toby Thoolan and Eljay Connors were all selected at Saturday's AFL national draft.Tarrant and Selwood were considered certainties to be picked up, there had been speculation Thoolan would come into calculations, while the selection of Connors was one of the surprises of the draft, held at the Telstra Dome.Tarrant was the first of the Pioneers selected when the Kangaroos used pick number 15 on the strong-marking key forward, who is the younger brother of Fremantle Docker Chris Tarrant.Selwood was the next to go at selection 22 to the West Coast Eagles - the club his older brother, Adam, plays at.With his selection, all four Selwood brothers are now on an AFL list - Scott and Adam (West Coast), Troy (Brisbane Lions) and Joel (Geelong).Collingwood used selection 47 to draft 195 cm ruckman Thoolan, who was runner-up in the Pioneers' best and fairest this year.And with selection 70 - the sixth-last pick in the draft - the Saints drafted Connors, the brother of Daniel Connors, who was recruited to Richmond last year.Connors played just three games for the Pioneers this year after suffering two collapsed lungs, which sidelined him for 13 weeks.Selwood, Thoolan and Connors are all bottom-aged players who were eligible to play with the Pioneers in the TAC Cup again next year.With four players selected, it was the Pioneers' best result at the draft since they had five players chosen in 2001."It just shows these players have developed well, but the easy part is done for them, the hard work really does start now," Pioneers coach Mark Ellis said on Saturday."As a club we are really happy for the boys."We try to play a brand of footy that is going to help our players develop, and while we haven't won as many games as we would have liked, from a development perspective we are probably getting that right."As expected, Carlton used its No. 1 pick to land Northern Knights ruckman Matthew Kreuzer, while Richmond selected Trent Cotchin, also of the Knights, with pick two. The Metricon Bendigo Bombers would have been keeping a close eye on who Essendon drafted as the Dons' selections on Saturday will most likely spend time in the VFL with Bendigo next year.Essendon chose tall defenders David Myers (No. 6) and Tayte Pears (No. 23), Darcy Daniher (No. 39), the son of former Dons' full-back Anthony Daniher, and 195 cm forward Cale Hooker (No. 54).For those players who didn't get drafted on Saturday, their next chance will be in the rookie draft on December 11.

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