The embarrassing leak of an AFL draft video has prompted Essendon to review the security of their club website.

The video was posted to YouTube early on Thursday and shows Bombers recruiting manager Adrian Dodoro extolling the virtues of midfielder Shaun Atley as their first-round pick.

But the Bombers used the first pick at No.8 on Thursday night to recruit Dyson Heppell, while Atley eventually went to North Melbourne at No.17.

Essendon chief executive Ian Robson said someone had hacked into the club's website and then made the Atley video public.

He added Dodoro had recorded "less than five" videos pre-draft, depending on which player they went for with their first pick, and these were pre-loaded onto the website.

"Am I relaxed it's public? No, it's a 'small-e' embarrassment," Robson told AAP.

"All clubs, particularly with their first-round picks ... there are a number of scenarios and we prepare for them.

"In this instance, what's happened is we've pre-recorded a number of things with Adrian for our website, to discuss players we thought would be in that group.

"Shaun Atley was certainly one of those and what's happened is those videos that have been stored on our website have been hacked into."

Robson also stressed it was standard for the videos to be stored on the website, ready to be posted publicly.

"Why were they pre-stored? That's a fundamental working practice that is prevalent right across the year ... it's a common practice," he said.

"We're certainly having a review of our protocols and strategies behind the scenes and I'm sure that will continue into next week."

Richmond also accidentally posted a profile on their No.1 pick Reece Conca on the club website before the draft.

Essendon interviewed Heppell at a campsite the night before the draft.

Given the late timing of that meeting, plus the public airing of the Atley video, a conspiracy theory is that Dodoro was overruled on the club's first pick.

Robson said that idea was "nonsense".

The Bombers boss said while the club was rapt to secure Heppell, they retained a high opinion of Atley.

In the video, Dodoro says Atley "has a bit of Chris Judd about him".

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