St Kilda have made Paddy McCartin the No.1 pick in the 2014 AFL draft, confirming rumours the Geelong Grammar product would be selected over the highly touted Christian Petracca.
The 18-year-old marking forward spent last season with the Geelong Falcons and is a reliable forward mark capable of moving up the ground.
McCartin’s miraculous story has seen the teenager manage his professional football future while also living with type 1 diabetes since age nine.
“Ever since then I’ve had to deal with (diabetes) on a daily basis,” McCartin told the AFL broadcast. “It was a bit of struggle to start with, I was pretty young and a little immature, but I had a lot of help from my parents.”
“As footy came into more of a serious note I’ve had to take care of it a lot more. I’m really lucky the Falcons and I have been able to build a really good management plan for it. I’m taking about 10 (blood) pricks a game and feel like I’m pretty well on top it.”
McCartin revealed he had no contact with the Saints in the lead up to the draft after his high school exam period and a family holiday overseas, but had spoken with Melbourne in the past few days.
“I’d had none (contact),” he said. “I got here tonight the same as everybody else. I didn’t have a clue so half an hour felt like about five hours and I was a bit nervous.”
Melbourne picked Petracca and Paul Roos favourite Angus Brayshaw with the second and third picks.
The official 2014 @NAB #AFLDraft top ten selfie! pic.twitter.com/iWlh8cBxlB
— AFL (@AFL) November 27, 2014
2014 AFL Draft Order
Round 1
- St Kilda – Paddy McCartin
- Melbounre – Christian Petracca
- Melbourne – Angus Brayshaw
- GWS – Jarrod Pickett
- Collingwood – Jordan De Goey
- GWS – Caleb Marchbank
- GWS – Paul Ahern
- Gold Coast – Peter Wright
- Collingwood – Darcy Moore
- Geelong – Nakia Cockatoo
- West Coast – Liam Duggan
- Richmond – Corey Ellis
- Fremantle – Lachie Weller
- Adelaide – Jake Lever
- Gold Coast – Jarrod Garlett
- North Melbourne – Sam Durdin
- Essendon – Kyle Langford
- Sydney – Isaac Heeney
- Carlton – Blaine Boekhrst
- Essendon – Jayden Laverde
- St Kilda – Hugh Goddard
- St Kilda – Daniel McKenzie
- GWS – Patrick McKenna
- GWS – Jack Steele
- North Melbourne – Daniel Nielson
- Western Bulldogs – Toby McLean
- Western Bulldogs – Lukas Webb
- Carlton – Dillon Viojo-Rainbow
- Gold Coast – Touk Miller
- Collingwood – Brandon Maynard
- Hawthorn – Daniel Howe
- West Coast – Tom Lamb
- Richmond – Connor Menadue
- Fremantle – Connor Blakely
- Adelaide – Harrison Wigg
- North Melbourne – Ed Vickers-Willis
- Sydney – James Rose
- Sydney – Jack Hiscox
- Western Bulldogs – Declan Hamilton
- Melbourne – Alex Neal-Bullen
Photo: Matt Roberts/Getty Images.
