KATIE Loynes believes Carlton has bolstered its list across all areas following the 2019 NAB AFL Women’s Draft.

Ikon Park welcomed seven new Game Changers from Tuesday’s draft, welcoming Lucy McEvoy, Grace Egan, Brooke Vernon, Sharnie Whiting, Serena Gibbs, Vaomua Laloifi and Courtney Jones to the Club ahead of the 2020 season.

It was a busy day for Loynes, who didn’t just have seven new teammates to welcome. She played a big role in their respective selections given her role as the AFLW Recruiting Manager.

Pleased with the top-end talent selected, Loynes is eager to see how the promise of their respective junior careers translates at AFLW level.

“It [was] a super exciting day for our footy club: we drafted seven new girls in and each of them will bring something different to our club,” Loynes said.

“We’re really looking to seeing what they can do on-field for us next year.”

The selections were varied, with defenders Brooke Vernon and Vaomua Laloifi, key position talents Serena Gibbs and Sharnie Whiting and midfielders Lucy McEvoy, Grace Evans and Courtney Jones all finding themselves in Navy Blue. 

However, according to Loynes, the key strength to come out of the draft class was its versatility: Carlton’s first selection is a prime example.

Much has been made of McEvoy’s three consecutive All-Australian selections, which came in the back line, up forward and in the midfield respectively.

“I think each of the girls are versatile, so they can play in a number of positions,” she said.

“It definitely looks from the draft that we’ve gone heavy in our back-line stocks, but knowing what the girls can bring in a variety of positions is really exciting.”

Loynes compared new Blue McEvoy to last year’s No. 3 selection Madison Prespakis, who put together a stellar season which resulted in a best and fairest and her unanimous selection as the NAB AFLW Rising Star.

“Lucy’s an absolute star and I think that she’s going to have a similar kind of season to what Maddy Prespakis had,” she said.

“She’ll be able to have an immediate impact for us next year.

“I think the combination of having Al Downie rucking down to both Maddy Prespakis and Lucy McEvoy will be amazing for our club to see and it will be really exciting to see them work together through the 2020 season.”