A LOCAL footballer could just be the answer to Essendon’s dwindling ruck stocks next year.

Leader can confirm the Bombers have held talks with Keilor big man Andrew Browne as they consider snapping him up in either this year’s national or rookie drafts.

Should it eventuate, the drafting would be a second chance at AFL level for the 24-year-old after he spent four years on Richmond’s list, playing 12 games at the top level before being delisted at the end of the 2012 season.

Since then, Browne has played in the Essendon District Football League with Keilor where he won the league’s best-and-fairest award in 2013 and finished runner-up behind former Geelong ruckman Mark Blake this year.

Keilor coach and former Collingwood premiership player Mick McGuane said if Browne did find his way back onto an AFL list it would be a great story for all involved.

“I hope it comes to fruition,” he said.

“It would be one of the great stories to come out of the Essendon District footy league and also our club.”

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McGuane said it was up to “others smarter than me” to decide if Browne could compete at AFL level once again but said he could not fault his ruckman’s performances with Keilor in one of the state’s top local competitions over the past two years.

“His volume of effort, his volume of performance speaks in glowing terms from where I sit,” he said.

“But, as we know, the EDFL isn’t the AFL.”

Browne could prove a ready-made back-up ruckman for Essendon as No. 1 ruck Paddy Ryder eyes the exit door.

The AFL national draft will be held on November 27, with the rookie draft to follow on December 3.