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North Melbourne have defended the most heavily scrutinised move of the AFL draft, after trading away a future first-round pick to secure key tall Matt Whitlock.

North Melbourne are adamant giving up next year's first-round pick in a trade was the right call after it became the most heavily scrutinised move of the AFL draft.

The Kangaroos completed a swap with Richmond to take the final pick of the first round on Wednesday, using it to select versatile tall Matt Whitlock to bolster their key position stocks.

As part of the deal, they also received the Tigers' future second-round pick but gave up what could be a top-four selection next year - if North struggle again.

They have finished in the bottom two for each of the past five seasons.

The surprise trade was widely regarded by critics as a steal for Richmond, but Kangaroos recruiting boss Will Thursfield defended his club's move.

Thursfield on Thursday night said it was always North's plan to take the best available player at pick two - midfield gun Finn O'Sullivan - and trade back in for a key position player.

They made the first offer to St Kilda at pick eight and kept trying until Richmond played ball, allowing them to snare Whitlock, who they rated as a genuine top-10 prospect.

"He's around that mark," Thursfield said.

"We can play him forward or back, genuine key position size, going to have the athlete profile to match up against the big boys.

"So yeah, we were happy to do it."

On top of first-round selections O'Sullivan and Whitlock, North also drafted East Fremantle midfielder Luke Urquhart (pick 57) and father-son recruit River Stevens (67).

O'Sullivan joins fellow top-10 picks Harry Sheezel, George Wardlaw, Colby McKercher and Zane Duursma - all taken in the past two years.

The Kangaroos are now hopeful they can rise sharply up the ladder, also bolstered by trade period acquisitions Luke Parker, Caleb Daniel, Jack Darling and Jacob Konstanty.

"We've got enough kids in now and we've hit the trade period and got some mature boys in, so it's time to get moving," Thursfield said.

"You'd hope we'd improve quite a bit, given the cattle we've brought in and another year in these young kids, but it's hard to say.

"At the end of the day, we've got to back ourselves in a bit."

For their part, Richmond were happy with the trade deal which landed them an additional first-round pick for 2025, as they seek to build on this year's bumper draft haul.

"It's a good result, but trading of future picks is always dangerous," Tigers football talent manager Blair Hartley told Fox Footy.

"We've given them our future second, as well.

"You just end up death-riding every team in the competition if you give up too many picks for next year, which we kind of had this year.

"But we're excited the position we're in this year ... but having the two first-round picks for next year obviously puts us in a good position going forward."