State league coaches believe AFL clubs are moving away from mature recruits Frankston's Sam Lloyd was one of a few mature recruits drafted on Thursday. STATE coaches fear the popularity of mature-aged draft picks may be on the decline. Only five players aged 20 or over were selected in last Thursday's national draft, well down on the previous three years, and VFL coach Gary Ayres and SANFL counterpart Michael Godden agree that trend will continue in Wednesday's pre-season and rookie drafts. During the compromised drafts of 2010-12, as expansion teams Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney were bedded down with a plethora of high draft picks, mature-aged draftees became all the rage. A total of 33 players aged 20 or over were drafted across the national, pre-season and rookie drafts in 2012, while that number was a staggering 44 in 2011 and 30 in 2010. Those numbers do not include players re-drafted by their clubs or elevated to senior status off the rookie list. Gooden said the "hidden gems" that have been found in state leagues during the past few years "are still there and playing local footy" but are less likely to be found this week. "I think the trend will continue, I think they'll stay with those younger kids now," Godden said. You look at it and you see that the majority of the ones that were picked up (in the national draft) were under 18 kids. The sad thing for me as an SANFL coach is that there are probably two kids from every club that are in their 20s that now feel their AFL dream is over, but I know that if they were given that opportunity they would be able to do what Paul Puopolo did at Hawthorn and so on. It's disappointing, and I'm sure the AFL clubs have their reasons, but there are certainly players out there that are capable of playing at the top level if given the opportunity. Ayres said the drafting strategy of clubs had shifted. "I would think that the number of ready-made players, on the evidence of the national draft, will be less than what has previously been," Ayres said.