National Recruiting Manager Hamish Ogilvie says the Crows inadvertently addressed two needs in selecting Tasmanian key defender Sam Siggins and skilful midfielder/forward Rory Atkins in the 2012 NAB AFL Draft.

Ogilvie wasted no time in calling Siggins’ name at Adelaide’s first pick, No.62, on Thursday night.

At 196cm and 88kg, Siggins is a tall, rebounding defender, who can play on both talls and smalls. He made his senior debut for Lauderdale at age 15, and finished top-10 in both the beep test and 3km time trial at the Draft Combine last month.

Ogilvie couldn’t hide his delight in having secured Siggins with a late-third round pick.

“We rated Sam highly. He’s a key defender in the Phil Davis mould,” Ogilvie told afc.com.au.

“His endurance is really good. He needs to work a bit on his speed and power, but he’s a young, gangly kid so that will come. He’s played senior footy for the last two years and is a total footy head like Daniel Talia.”

With their second pick at No.81 overall, the Crows swooped on Calder Cannon Rory Atkins.

A 186cm and 80kg ball winner, Atkins is an excellent decision maker and precise left-foot kick, finishing equal-first in the kicking assessment at the 2012 Draft Combine. He possesses smarts and an uncanny ability to find space.

The strong marking 18-year-old was selected in the AIS-AFL Academy program at the end of 2010, but was left out of the squad after a quiet 2011 season. He responded to win the Calder Cannons best and fairest award playing as a hit-up half-forward this year.

“Rory’s got a bit of spunk and cheek about him,” Ogilvie said.

“Rory is very talented, but things have probably come easy to him. He’s just starting to learn how to work hard now after a few kicks in the pants. He’s had his ups and downs, but he’s been up for the last half of the season and played really well.

“He still has a bit to learn about the work required to play at AFL level, but you can’t beat talent.”

Adelaide’s third selection was used to confirm rookie Ian Callinan’s promotion to the senior list. The Crows have also added gun midfielder Brad Crouch and Richmond ruckman Angus Graham to their list, and Ogilvie said he was rapt with the net result especially considering the Club’s late entry to the national draft.

“I’m really happy. I’m pleased for the recruiting guys who work for us because Sam and Rory are two boys we’ve watched for a long time,” Ogilvie said.

“I first saw Sam play when he was 15. Rory played TAC Cup footy as a 16-year-old. He was an AIS-Academy player and it’s not often you get those kids at pick No.81 in the draft.

“We stuck to our talent order and we’ve ended up addressing two needs with our picks. Rory gives a bit of outside finish and is a left-footer, which we haven’t got many of. He’s got good lateral movement, a nice kick and a few tricks and Sam is a developing key back.

“It’ll probably be three or four years before we see the full results, but I can present these boys to our players with a fair bit of pride. I’m really confident our boys are going to like Sam and Rory.”

The Crows have now added three Tasmanians, Siggins, Callinan and Graham, to their senior list for 2013. Rookie Jack Osborn also hails from Tassie.

Ogilvie, who coached in Tassie’s VFL and academy system, and Adelaide List Manager David Noble (a dual premiership player with North Hobart) both have ties to Tasmania.

“People will say Nobes and I only pick Tasmanians because we’ve got a link with Tassie, but our answer is that we only pick the good ones!”