GEELONG recruiting and list manager Stephen Wells has lifted the lid on the players who he believes are the three biggest hits of his career.

Wells revealed to the official Geelong Cats podcast To the Final Bell that all three of his favourite moves brought captains to the club.  

“I love every player I draft, whether they make it or they don’t I know that they come here and give their best,” he said.

“The players that you draft a bit later in the draft whether it be a later pick or a rookie pick, if they go on and have fantastic careers obviously that’s a bonus and a great credit to those players for their resilience.”

“The later picks are a little less consistent than the other players in their draft year so if you’re lucky enough to be there on a day they do something good or it turns out you’re there on a day where thing don’t go so well it has a big impact on your thinking.”

Tom Harley (Traded for pick 37 in the 1998 AFL Draft)

Harley was the first player named by Wells, who spoke of the standards the captain set for the football club as his legacy left behind.

“He had an enormous impact on the playing group – still does I believe with the standards he set.”

“He was a trade from Port Adelaide – it cost us a late pick in the thirties to get Tom Harley over here. At the time he was we couldn’t have anticipated he was going to be a brilliant AFL premiership captain. He was still making his way trying to find a game in AFL footy.”

Cameron Ling (Selected at pick 38 in the 1999 AFL Draft)

Wells recalled a day at the now GMHBA Stadium, and some strong testing results which helped him decide there was something more to the Geelong Falcons’ undersized full-forward.

“He did do a 16 beep (test). He did play in the midfield, I was lucky enough to be here one day when he did get 30 possessions playing on what is now GMHBA Stadium playing for the Geelong Falcons.”

Joel Selwood (Taken with selection seven in the 2006 National Draft)

Despite his relatively high selection in the draft, Selwood in the hoops wasn’t always a foregone conclusion.

It wasn’t until close to draft day that Wells realised that Selwood might still be on the board after he was originally touted as a higher pick.

“As it turned out I rang Joel on the Tuesday before the draft and said look mate I think I better come and see you because I reckon there’s a chance you’re going to slip through,” Wells said.

“All his performances had been that he might go a bit earlier because he had a sore knee and that was going to impact some people’s thinking.

As the moment of truth closed in, Wells was hoping for one of two players to be available.

“I would have loved to have taken Travis Boak or Joel Selwood, but I didn’t know who pick six was going to be. Hawthorn had pick six and they would divulge who it was going to be.”

“By the Friday night I was really confident that I knew who the first five picks were. You just hear from clubs and managers and it just works out.”

The Cats recruiting and list manager left his home on the morning of the draft with one name for his wife to listen out for.

“I do remember leaving my home – the draft was on a Saturday morning – and saying to my wife as I walked out the door, if you hear that we’ve drafted a boy called Joel Selwood today you know we’ve had a good day,” he said.

Thankfully for the Cats, Wells’ wife heard exactly that.

“Until Hawthorn called out Mitch Thorp at six I didn’t know Joel was going to be available at seven. I couldn’t get his name out fast enough,” Wells said.

“Even though he was pick seven, he’s been able to have as much influence on our club as anybody in recent history just with his brilliant leadership as well as being a star player.”

For Wells it was a calculated risk, but one that paid off.

“It came with a bit of risk, I can’t blame other clubs for not picking him because his knee was a bit sore and he had only played three games in his draft year.”