Myrtleford's Dominic Bedendo among hopefuls ahead of Wednesday's AFL draft

It only has a population of around 3000, but the Alpine town has had seven players drafted in the past 33 years.

Michael Quirk (1987) and Steven Bozicevic (1989) didn't manage a senior game at St Kilda and Sydney, respectively, while Guy Rigoni was drafted to Hawthorn in 1992 and went on to play 107 matches at Melbourne, including the 2000 grand final.

Steve McKee played 84 games for Richmond and Collingwood from 1998 to 2004 and started in the ruck for the 2002 grand final, while Frazer Dale played twice for Carlton in 2012.

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Jack Crisp has amassed 153 career matches, which includes 135 in a row at Collingwood since he departed Brisbane at the end of 2014, while Matt Taberner is Fremantle's number one forward and has booted 104 majors in his 87 matches for the Dockers.

Bedendo, a versatile forward and wingman hopes to join that list when the AFL draft is conducted virtually on Wednesday night.

The 18-year-old Murray Bushranger is in a unique position to those before him with no football played in his draft year due to COVID-19.

Despite having no club training or the ability to impress recruiters on the field, Bedendo has taken the opportunity to work on key areas of his game.

It clearly paid off when it came to combine testing as Bedendo posted the highest running vertical jump across the country at 99cm.

"I tried to do everything I could to give myself the advantage on people who weren't doing anything," he said.

"I wanted to keep myself in good shape physically and mentally as well.

"I put in a lot of work on explosiveness and strength training to prepare myself for the combine and I performed pretty well.

"I put in a massive pre-season and the season not going ahead kind of sucked, but you've just got to keep a positive attitude and find the positives out of things.

"I was really excited for the season, but I made the most out of it not going ahead."

Bedendo has also been fortunate to have key role models on his door step with former Geelong and GWS ruckman Dawson Simpson now at Myrtleford and senior coach Jake Sharp both happy to offer their support.

"I've been doing a bit of training with Myrtleford and Dawson has been a big part of that, so I've talked to him a bit," he said.

"He has so much knowledge of the game.

"Jake Sharp didn't have much AFL exposure, but he played VFL and he's really knowledgeable about the game as well.

"He was a really good role model and always called or texted to check in on me."

Bedendo's last competitive game was the 2019 Ovens and Murray thirds grand final where the Saints, who were more than five goals down, stormed home to deliver the club its fifth football premiership in its history.

If all goes to plan, the next time he plays will be at the highest level.

"I'm pretty nervous, but whatever happens will happen," Bedendo said.

"I've talked to a few clubs and my manager has talked to a few as well. Some have been to visit, some have been on the phone and most have been through Zoom.

"If it doesn't happen this year, Murray Bushrangers has turned into an under-19 squad and I'll go back there and hopefully play a full season this time and try get some exposure that way."

Murray Bushrangers' talent manager Mick Wilson said Bedendo earned the chance to be looked at.

"One of the things that has worked in his favour is he's worked so hard during COVID to improve his athletic capacity," he said.

"That aspect of commitment and sacrifice and carries a fairly large sway in regards to AFL clubs making up their mind whether the player is suitable or not."

The draft starts at 7pm on Wednesday with Bedendo set to watch it from home with family.