National RecruitingManager Hamish Ogilvie gives an insight to how Andy Otten came to be a Crow in2007 …

“Our first meeting with Andy was at a hotel in Bulleen. Andy was there with his Dad, Theo.

“Andy very first caught my eye as a 17-year-old in 2006. He played at full forward in the grand final for his TAC Cup team, Oakleigh Chargers. Actually, I think David Mackay played on the wing that game too, but he was a year older than Andy.

“I’m not even sure if I’d started working for the Crows then, but I remember thinking ‘Ooh, this bloke (Otten) is going to be good’. At that stage, I thought Andy was a marking forward. He had a big vertical jump and looked really good leading out of the goal square.

“The next year, Andy played a lot of midfield and wing for Oakleigh. He got a heap of the ball and was a big-bodied midfielder similar in size to Scott Pendlebury. Andy was a really good basketballer growing up, so he had that awareness and ability to read the play that a lot of basketballers have.

“He played in the Under-18 National Championships in 2007, but he wasn’t a very prominent player. He played across half-back and was solid without being spectacular, but he finished off the year for Oakleigh really well.

“We went and saw him again at home late in the year. I knew his dad, Theo, from the Donvale Footy Club. We knew a lot of similar people, so it was easy cross-checking information. Andy is further evidence of a great family producing a great person. After that visit, we put Andy in our draft order and that was that – pick No.27 came around and we selected him.

“We drafted Andy as a midfielder, knowing that he could also play in defence and up forward. He was a midfield with two back-up positions, which – at 192cm – gave us good versatility.

“Andy started his AFL career down back and finished runner-up in the NAB Rising Star playing in defence 2009. We (recruiters) used to go to (coach) Neil Craig and the assistant coaches all the time, asking them to train Andy in the midfield. I remember Andy played a pre-season game in the midfield one year and did quite well. He started the 2010 pre-season with the midfielders, but then did his knee for the first time.

“We were always a little bit frightened of Andy getting picked by Hawthorn, or going back to Hawthorn because his Dad loved the club. When I used to go out and spy on Hawthorn and watch them train, I’d always see Theo out there!

“It took a little while for Theo to get over the Hawks and become a full-blown Crows man, but I’m pretty sure he’s there now.”