Especially if you really win out and get players in that 20-23 y age group, as we have done with Polec, Ebert and Hombsch.Yeah, why immediately fill the one hole that we currently have in our otherwise premiership ready side with a player who is already AFL quality and still has a decade of football ahead, when we can just draft somebody who won't be ready for a few years and will be behind Butcher, Shaw and Harvey in development anyway? We don't need a 4th young key forward, we need a second AFL ready key forward.
I know every club seems to have an obsession with going through the draft, but I would hope Port supporters especially would know better. Schulz, Ebert, Monfries, Polec, Hombsch and White say hi. It doesn't matter how you get quality players, what matters is that you get them. If anything you're better off trading them in at a young age than drafting them, because if you trade them in then you get to skip the first 2/3 years of development where most players (especially KPP's) aren't much good and get right to the good bits.
Tomlinson would be a very handy pick. What I'm not yet sure about with him though is whether he can play as the main go-to forward, as opposed to the roaming, lead-up CHF. He does seem to be a very good contested and pack mark, but can he do it regularly close to goal?