IF NORTH Melbourne paid a slightly inflated price for Tasmanian academy member Tarryn Thomas, the bidding system swung back in its favour when an unexpectedly late call for father-son recruit Bailey Scott allowed it to trade up the draft order and claim mercurial forward Curtis Taylor.

Thomas had been widely tipped to be a first-round pick, but most were expecting him to fall later than pick No.8, the bid by Adelaide that the Kangaroos were forced to match on the opening night of the NAB AFL Draft.

However, Scott, the son of 1996 premiership Kangaroo Robert Scott, slid to No.49 on Friday despite being widely tipped to attract a rival bid in the second round of the draft, perhaps even as soon as the early 30s.

The rival bid came from Geelong, which also had father-son rights to Scott before the Gold Coast academy member nominated North as his preferred AFL club ahead of the Cats and Suns.

Scott is a medium forward/midfielder who averaged 23.8 possessions as captain of the Allies in the 2018 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships to win All Australian honours.

Taylor, 187cm, is a strong overhead mark and has a rare knack for winning the ball in traffic, while he starred with eight marks and three goals for Vic Metro against Vic Country in the U18 championships.