Patrick Dangerfield says he’s been left with a sour taste in his mouth, after hearing stories about draftees who have expressed a preference to remain in their home state.

While the 2016 Brownlow medallist is back at home on the Surf Coast in Victoria, Dangerfield spent the first eight years of his career at the Crows, where he was drafted with Pick 10 in 2007.

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“I don’t love hearing stories around players potentially saying they’re not comfortable moving interstate without trying it,” Dangerfield told SEN’s Time On.

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“Without doubt, the best thing for me as a 17-year-old at the time was to be drafted by an interstate club.

“You grow up so quickly and you’re just fully immersed in football because the people that you know, the people I knew in Adelaide were football people.

“So everything you do revolves around footy and that’s a really good way to fast-track yourself and to make sure you’re putting everything you possibly can into football and you don’t have those outside distractions.”

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Players from the draft class of ‘07, including Patrick Dangerfield (fifth from left). Source: News Corp Australia

Dangerfield also had some advice for draftees who ended up interstate, saying the best starting point was living with a host family.

“As enticing as it may be to get with a group of draftees and live in a house together, when I moved over to Adelaide I lived with a host family and it was the best thing I could’ve done,” he said.

“It really narrows your focus around playing footy and it’s as close to home life as you can get because you’ve got dinner prepared for you, your washing is done for you and you’ve just got to focus on being a good footballer and playing well.

“You’ve got to nail your first couple of years of your career because if you don’t, you find yourself out of the system quite quickly.”

The 2018 AFL draft will be held over two days — November 22 and 23 — at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne.