Ross Lyon had a simple instruction to St Kilda recruiter Simon Dalrymple ahead of the AFL mid-season draft.
"Max Hall 2", the Saints coach said.
Whether Campbell Lake can emulate Hall won't be clear for a while. But the Saints certainly understand how valuable a mid-season pick can be.
They recruited Lake from VFL club Southport with the No.7 pick in Tuesday night's draft, two years after using the No.4 selection to bring in Hall.
The small forward and midfielder made his debut at the start of last season and has played every game since.
Hall finished fourth in last year's club best-and-fairest voting and won the Saints' best emerging player award. Not surprisingly, Hall also secured a two-year contract extension.
He is the poster child for what value a club can gain from a mid-season pick.
"Max worked incredibly hard, he's an absolute pro, and just his consistency of performance, he just does the fundamentals really well," Lyon said.
"He's been a real, significant cog for us, so ... we'd like to find another one."
Lyon also is realistic about how tough it is to find someone like Hall.
"The (talent) pool's small, the ability to find the arbitrage, the value that people are missing, has got harder and harder because of analytics and scouting teams, so I think the pool, it's pretty well known," he said
"But I think, then beauty's in the eye of the beholder, isn't it."
Now the Saints have recruited Lake, a 21-year-old who spent three years at Southport after coming through the Gold Coast academy.
"Campbell is a powerful small forward who can also play through midfield," Dalrymple said.
"His ability to chase and tackle is impressive, while he's also shown signs of being able to hit the scoreboard, so we're excited to add him to our mix."
