After missing out on selection in last week’s AFL national draft, Nick O’Kearney had every reason to be disappointed.
The Calder Cannons and Keilor midfielder has long been considered a prospective AFL player and was surprisingly overlooked on Tuesday night.
“It was a little disappointing as I’d put everything into it,” O’Kearney said.
“But I didn’t have any regrets and I had to move on and look to the next chapter, which was the rookie draft.”
And he didn’t have to wait long in the rookie draft to see his name, as St Kilda took him with pick five.
“I’m relieved; it’s been a hectic few days,” he said. “It was good to see my name so early in the draft and to not be sitting on edge like the other night.
“To get calls from the coach and others at St Kilda is really good.”
O’Kearney knew the Saints were interested in him, as they and Adelaide contacted him in between the two drafts.
“On Wednesday morning, after the clubs got back from Adelaide, I got a phone call from St Kilda asking if I was home and that they would be straight around to my place to talk,” O’Kearney said.
“I spoke with them two or three times on the phone and Adelaide called me a couple of times saying they were interested but didn’t think I would be around when they had a pick. There was a lot of support from Adelaide, telling me to keep my head up.”
O’Kearney didn’t have long to get his head around being drafted as he headed to a Saints training camp in Queensland on Sunday.
He was one of three Cannons players selected in the rookie draft after the team failed to have anyone picked in the national draft.
Callum Moore was selected by Richmond at pick 12, while Tom Wallis joined Essendon under the father-son rule.
Cannons talent manager Ian Kyte said the three boys deserved to be selected.
“It’s probably where we thought we’d be this year, with three or four players selected,” he said. “Callum has worked hard and still has a lot of improvement in him. I think he’ll thrive in a full-time environment.
“It was relief for Tom to get to Essendon … we were pretty sure he’d go there.”
One Cannons player who missed out was Hisham Kerbatieh.
“It’s disappointing for him,” Kyte said. “Now he needs to play in the VFL and improve in the areas that clubs see as his weaknesses.”
Former Cannons player Andrew Gallucci was also picked up in the rookie draft.
The Williamstown midfielder was selected by Carlton.
