GEELONG will have seven selections across the upcoming national and rookie drafts.

The Cats are set to choose four players at the national draft, which will be held in Adelaide on Tuesday, November 24.

However, they won’t get their first selection until the fourth round after trading away a number of early picks for Patrick Dangerfield and Zac Smith.

This means recruiting boss Stephen Wells and his team are having to plan for a range of contingencies.

“Our first pick is scheduled at 67, but I think it will come in a bit earlier than that, with some [father-son and academy] bidding and some clubs passing on picks,” Wells told geelongcats.com.au.

“We’ve probably been able to come up with about 30 names that I’d be very confident won’t be there when we have a pick, although we will prepare just in case a couple of them do slip through.

“But we’re spending most of our time working on those guys that are more likely to get through to us than not.”

The national draft is expected to be a relatively brief affair, with AFL Media draft guru Cal Twomey writing in October that only 58 to 60 players are likely to be selected.

“But then, of course, only three days after the national draft we have the rookie draft and there will be another 60-odd players drafted then,” Wells said.

“So it’s not as if we, as a recruiting team, go to the national draft and then start looking at the rookie draft.

“Our list that we’re working on includes that national draft and rookie draft as well.

“We’ll have seven picks across the two drafts. It will probably work out that we have four selections in the national draft and three rookie selections.”

Wells and his team have entered the national draft in the latter rounds before.

In 2000, the Cats’ first selection was No. 44, but they managed to snare Josh Hunt with that pick.

Hunt went on and played in two premierships with the club.

“But, yes, it is a fairly unusual set of circumstances this year,” Wells said.

GEELONG’S LIST CHANGES SO FAR IN 2015

Off: Sam Blease (retired), Dean Gore (traded to Adelaide), Steve Johnson (traded to Greater Western Sydney), James Kelly (retired), Brad Hartman (retired), Jarrad Jansen (traded to Brisbane Lions), Hamish McIntosh (retired), Jared Rivers (retired), Dawson Simpson (joined Greater Western Sydney as free agent), Mathew Stokes (retired), James Toohey (retired), Josh Walker (traded to Brisbane Lions)

On: Patrick Dangerfield (traded from Adelaide), Lachie Henderson (traded from Carlton), Scott Selwood (free agent from West Coast), Zac Smith (traded from Gold Coast)