ST KILDA'S pick four could be the trade chip that spices up draft night and sends the race for South Australia's top talent into overdrive.
As many as four South Australians are set to be snapped up in the top 10 of November's NAB AFL Draft, which will coincide with the introduction of live draft pick trading.
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Jack Lukosius and Izak Rankine are considered the brightest prospects among them – and may go in the top three – ahead of Connor Rozee and Jackson Hately, with Luke Valente and Jez McLennan also rated highly.
Carlton has the No.1 pick, while Gold Coast holds selections two and three, which could be spent on schoolmates Lukosius and Rankine in a move that would spoil any Adelaide and Port Adelaide plans.
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Saints football boss Simon Lethlean has put No.4 on the table for the right offer, especially given their next-highest choices are 28, 67 and 79 for the moment.
"We've got pick four, which is very valuable, and we're looking forward to making the most of that," Lethlean said.
"We'd love to get back into the draft. It's not always possible, but … that's all part of the discussions we're going through now."
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Agent Ben Williams, of Players Ink, looks after Lukosius and Rozee, while Rankine is on W Sports and Media's Dmitris Parhas' books, along with star Crow Eddie Betts.
Betts has taken on a mentoring role with Rankine and it would be a perfect scenario for Adelaide to find a way to bring the teenager to West Lakes.
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However, the Power struck the first blow in this week's NAB AFL Trade Period with a pair of swaps to surge up the draft.
Port received pick 11 off North Melbourne as part of the deal that sent Jared Polec to the Roos, then coupled that with later selections in a package to Fremantle that returned the Dockers' No.6.
Ken Hinkley's team is also armed with the 10th choice, so could conceivably nab, for example, Rozee and Hately.
The Crows don't enter the draft until the eighth pick at this stage, but strengthened their overall hand in offloading wantaway forward Mitch McGovern to Carlton.
They also have selections 13, 16 and 21 to play with, which could prove attractive to St Kilda.
Adelaide's list manager Justin Reid is open to all possibilities.
"It's a great position to be in for the football club … so we'll sit back now and just see how that plays out," Reid said.
"You can always ask the question, but it doesn't mean anyone's going to say yes to that, so we'll manage expectations and just see how things play out.
"We've obviously got that trade pick period after the Trade Period (which ends on Wednesday night) as well, so there's a fair bit of time to work through that."
Reid left the door ajar for a decision to be made as late as draft night, a temptation that would heighten if one of Lukosius or Rankine was to still be available as the Saints prepared to pick.
