Bulldogs win pick in draft

Bunyip Football Club will have a former AFL player pull on the red, white and blue after winning a place in this year's Carlton Draft.

The event, now in its third year, sees AFL legends drafted out to struggling local football teams in an effort to give them a boost. Bunyip certainly fit the criteria, given they failed to win a match last season and lost 11 of their 18 games by more than 100 points. Having been one of more than 175 clubs that nominated for the campaign, the Bulldogs were informed last week they would have a pick in the draft, which is to be televised on April 30.

This year's eligible draftees are:

- Trent Cotchin (306 games for Richmond, three-time premiership captain)

- Isaac Smith (280 games for Hawthorn and Geelong, 2022 Norm Smith medalist)

- Matthew Lloyd (270 games and 926 goals for Essendon, three-time Coleman medalist)

- Leigh Montagna (287 games for St Kilda, two-time All-Australian)

- Dylan Buckley (41 games for Carlton and Greater Western Sydney, host of popular podcast Dyl and Friends)

New Bunyip president Steven Sheppard said the news had created a "really positive vibe" around the club.

"Something like this can only generate more people coming down. More people coming down means more people being interested and hopefully more players in future," he said.

Sheppard credited previous president Noel Mollison for the club's selection, saying he had put in the work to ensure the club had the best chance of being chosen.

And while he didn't say which player would be the most preferable for the Bulldogs, Sheppard said any of them would "make a massive improvement."

"We really want to get that momentum going and hopefully build off of this. It's got to be a win-win."

Bunyip will find out which selection they will take into the draft later this month, while the match featuring the selected player will be sometime between May and July.