PORT ADELAIDE has welcomed Miles Bergman and Mitch Georgiades to the club after snaring the pair with its first two picks in the 2019 NAB AFL Draft on Wednesday night.
Midfielder Bergman was the club’s first selection at pick 14 while Georgiades’ name was called out at pick 18.
Draft experts have described Bergman’s athleticism, power, high marking and long kicking as his major strengths.
The 18-year-old Sandringham Dragons product can also play on the wing and half forward flank.
“We think Miles has got great running power, a bit like Xavier Duursma,” said Port Adelaide’s National Recruiting Manager, Geoff Parker.
“He’s a pretty good kick of the football – an elite user of the ball – and has also shown during the year that he can go forward, take a mark and kick a goal.”
At 191cm, Georgiades is a forward described by draft experts as having an outstanding contested mark and an ability to both read the game well and use the ball effectively by hand and foot.
The 18-year-old’s father John Georgiades played 15 games for Footscray including a spectacular debut in 1989 in which he booted eight goals against Carlton.
Mitch Georgiades missed the entire season with a quad injury meaning his selection came as a surprise to many.
“With picking Mitch, we think we’ve tidied up our scoring ability and a bit of our skill level as well,” Parker said.
“We tracked Mitch last year and then he got injured and didn’t play but he’s a Subiaco boy. He’s a bit of an unknown to many people but Jarrod Schofield coached Subiaco last year, (his son) Taj Schofield played with Mitch last year.
“We spoke with the coach of Subiaco as well so we got a lot of background information on him and he turned up at the combine in ripping physical condition so we couldn’t be more excited to have him come to the club.”
Port Adelaide also completed a late pick swap with Carlton which saw it give up pick 20 for picks 22 and 55, giving it the first pick in Thursday’s second round of the draft.
“We’ve got a group of players that we still like so we knew if we snuck back to 22 we’ve got the first pick Thursday night and we knew who was still there and who we wanted to pick,” Parker said.
“There are a couple of players that we rate really highly that are still sitting there so we’re in a really good spot.”
Earlier in the night Port Adelaide traded two third round picks to Fremantle in return for a fourth-round pick and a future second-round selection.
Port Adelaide will enter the remainder of the draft armed with picks 22, 55, 60, 61 and 83.
Miles Bergman
CLUB: Sandringham Dragons
DATE OF BIRTH: 18th October 2001
HEIGHT: 188cm
WEIGHT: 77kg
POSITION: Midfielder
Mitch Georgiades
CLUB: Subiaco
DATE OF BIRTH: 28th September 2001
HEIGHT: 191cm
WEIGHT: 78kg
POSITION: Forward
