WITH just four picks to work with in the 2017 NAB AFL Women's Draft, Melbourne had to make every selection count.

Coach Mick Stinear, talent manager Todd Paterson, and recruiting manager Anthony DeJong got together on Monday (two days before Wednesday's draft) to plan for the big day.

“A hell of a lot work has gone into it (draft), we had a great meeting and sort of collated everything from the year,” Stinear said.

“We had our list of names and hoped we would get the ones we wanted when the picks were available. It went to plan for us so we’re very happy.”

Melbourne used their first-round pick to recruit Eden Zanker from the Bendigo Pioneers. The key forward was the leading goal kicker at this year's NAB AFL Women's under-18 championships and the Dees are excited to see where her footy will go in 2018.

“Eden is a really impressive young woman who’s been developing rapidly,” Stinear said.

“She’s had a pretty crazy year in terms of her footy and where it's taken her but we’re excited to see where she can take things at an AFL level.”

Melbourne’s three other picks were used to recruit speedy midfielder Maddy Guerin, former WNBL basketballer Tegan Cunningham and surf lifesaver and former netballer Claudia Whitfort.

Stinear was particularly excited to have Cunningham on board for the 2018 season. During her basketball career Cunningham played 150 games for Adelaide Thunder, Logan Thunder, Dandenong Ranges and the Melbourne Boomers and has also played in the US.

Stinear said her elite sporting background and professionalism was a huge coup for the club.

“Tegan is very good in the air, a good kick and a really strong competitor,” Stinear said.

“She’s obviously been competing against women in another sport but her confidence and her physicality on court will help her when it comes to footy. We see her having an impact straight away.”

Stinear stressed the importance of having a balance of youth and experience when compiling his team’s list. He said it’s great to develop younger talent, but it is the mature players that are more likely to have an immediate impact.

After just missing out on a grand final berth on percentage, Stinear and his new recruits will be looking to make amends next season.

“We were disappointed with where we finished but we learnt a lot and there’s not a lot of change in our list or staff, so we feel we’re in a good position to launch next year,” he said.

“Now we’ve added another four that are going to add value and impact, so hopefully we take not just our game, but the AFLW [competition] to the next level.”