“Probably a lot of players who don’t play a lot of footy and they’ve been able to play in premierships, they probably feel pretty satisfied, guys that might have only been in the system for five or six years. North Melbourne The Jets waited until the second round to take Geno Smith (who didn't work out, but the restraint is admirable), while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took Mike Glennon in the third round. Pick 9 (Melbourne) – James Aish He played right tackle in his rookie year due to the presence of Branden Albert, and when Albert departed for free agency in 2014, Fisher shifted over to the left side. featured alongside some of Australia’s most prominent sports journalists. But put Kelly into any Victorian side, and fans would be salivating at his talents and future potential by now. Round Table: Which player is under the most pressure this finals series? Greater Western Sydney The 2013 Australian Football League season was the 117th season of the elite Australian rules football competition and the 24th under the name 'Australian Football League', having switched from 'Victorian Football League' after 1989.. On the bright side, it seems like people did learn from the 2011 draft, when Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder (remember those guys?) I was just focused on doing the best job I could for the club at the time.”. Fluker is a big guy at 6'5, 339 pounds. Subscribe for free to get the latest breaking news and analysis sent to your inbox. Not only were there a high number of offensive linemen selected at the top of the draft, but it was a subpar class for quarterbacks, leaving needy teams in the lurch. Despite losing the 10th pick in this draft – Nathan Freeman – Collingwood were one of the real winners in this draft. Offensive linemen are a bigger crapshoot than teams and fans might realize, and drafting the first one doesn't mean you'll get the best one, so don't automatically assume that that top-five LT will anchor your quarterback's blind side for a decade. This pick was certainly a head-scratcher at the time. Nail the early picks and your club will be that much closer to a finals campaign or even a premiership tilt. They didn't waste much time moving on from this mistake. If McCarthy settles back into Western Sydney life and doesn’t let his homesickness affect his professionalism, then he could become GWS’s main man as Jonathon Patton continues to recover from his knee issues. Pick 6: Matthew Scharenberg (Collingwood) Who they picked: Dom Sheed Free agency compensation picks are additional selections awarded to teams based on their net loss of players during the free agency trade period. "Ziggy" is an easy guy to root for given his background (he didn't even start playing organized football until he went to BYU), and he got drafted high based on his athletic upside. 15. “There was a group of us, Joel Smith finished up at the same time, Ben Dixon finished up at the same time, we’d all been there for 10 years or more. How traditional AFL clubs can learn from the 'cocky kids'. “I was sitting at home in my terraced house in Carlton studying for (engineering) exams. 1 rank, List manipulation is here to stay, so get used to it, How AFL recruiters are dealing with the COVID curveballs. 24 and attempted to convert him to a 3-4 linebacker, which did not pan out. Who they picked: James Aish The 2013 AFL draft consisted of six opportunities for player acquisitions throughout the 2013–14 Australian Football League (AFL) off-season. Revisit the 2017 Draft with General Manager of Recruiting and List Management Kinnear Beatson. Who they picked: Luke Dunstan Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? Round Table: Was Chris Scott right to label Geelong's critics 'lazy'? Before his foot injury, Merrett brought speed and excitement to the Bombers line-up. Big call, but McCarthy takes the final spot in this redraft over former GWS player, Tom Boyd. Pick 10: Nathan Freeman (Collingwood). The 2018 NAB AFL Draft kicks off on Thursday 22 November, with the two-day event to see the country’s best young talent find their new AFL homes. Coming into this year, I sort of felt like I was a little player in a bigger player’s body,” Cripps said at the time. The 2013 NFL Draft may be one of the worst of the modern era. Cripps’ response after making his way to Carlton with pick No.13 couldn’t have been more emphatic. They were the Super Bowl champions in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Not exactly what the Steelers were hoping for when they took him 17th. We want to see it. Unsurprisingly, his strengths were his clearance work and extract the ball from a contested situation. As of right now, he is undoubtedly the number one pick in this redraft. Revisited: 2015 draft. Who they should have picked: Tim Kelly (pick 24 in 2017) Although he was hailed as “everyone’s first choice” on the telecast by AFL Draft guru Kevin Sheehan, the 17-year-old from Mansfield in country Victoria looked relieved when his name was read out as pick one by Collingwood. Fremantle He (and Zack Martin the following year) were the final pieces needed to complete the best offensive line in football, paving the way for DeMarco Murray's career year in 2014. In what may go down as one of the most-talented draft crops in history, Cripps could be the pick of the bunch. 14. In the meantime, Milliner was expected to be Revis' replacement in spirit, if not in production. With an array of young talent at the Giants over the past few years, we haven’t seen enough of Kelly and his talents. Of the remaining players, Dumont stands out on the back of his 2018 season. Brown made his way to North Melbourne via the 2013 AFL draft. Promoted rookies are players who are transferred from a club's. Plying his trade for the Geelong Falcons as well as Vic Country, Darcy Lang made his way to Geelong with its first  selection in November 2013. Pick 3: Jack Billings (St Kilda) “Knowing helped me get my head around it a lot quicker than other boys did.”. While Saad is a year older and was drafted a year later than his peers, he injects run and carry at speed, clean ball use and is an able one-on-one defender. He plucks the ball from anywhere and everywhere, and is a reliable marking threat for the Giants. The 200-centimetre key position forward has emerged as a genuine threat for the Kangaroos. He was universally regarded as a top-shelf guard prospect when Arizona drafted him, but his career got derailed before it started. This is, bar none, the worst quarterback class of the 2010s. He was a highly rated 4-3 end at Florida State, but a middling Combine performance made his draft stock dip. This hard-hitting safety shot out of the gate, making the Pro Bowl as a rookie. It sort of took that excitement – I was definitely excited, no doubt about it – but (it took) the unknown out of it. Final words Kelly is a classy and a highly skilled midfielder who is fast becoming a rising star for the Giants. If the QB talent isn't there, don't reach for one. Gold Coast Let’s begin with the 2013 event: all things considered, the Blues now have two first-round picks from five years ago. Halloween night, 1998, and while the rest of Australia’s best young footballers were kept sleepless ahead of the next day’s AFL draft, 17-year-old West Australian Des Headland could rest peacefully – he knew exactly where he was headed. “I had a young daughter and my wife was pregnant at the time, so we decided to make the move back to Perth to be around our family and friends,” he says. In other words, don't take Christian Hackenberg in the first round just because he's tall. Who they should have picked: Matt Crouch (pick 23) Download the app now. The Bills are lucky Tyrod Taylor emerged in 2015, because otherwise they would still have no quarterback. Pick 8 (North Melbourne) – Ben Brown You probably know how that worked out. 52. Let's take a look back at the first-round picks and see what lessons can be learned from this.