There's still only one number one draft pick who went on to win a brownlow - adam cooney
i just had a look at the previous no. 1 drafts - since 2000 all bar 4 of them have come out of the TAC Cup (Victoria). 1 from QAFL, 1 from WAFL and 2 from SANFL.
It's a bloody lottery - no facts to back it up but i reckon the best players come from pick 3 or 4 and below and already have a ready made body and engine and I also think that players are taking longer to develop these days - especially ruckmen who don't seem to be at their best until 27'ish.
Of course there are obvious exceptions and there are NO gurus who can pick the top horseflesh year after year
this year the draft probably runs deep but there is no standout that EVERY club would draft if they had the no. 1 ticket I reckon the way to do it these days is to pick up the players you want from other teams via the trade rather than through the draft - hawthorn had done that almost perfectly prior to this year and it looks as though Essendon are going down that trade route now. But like everything else, those winning streaks don't last forever - hawthorn reaped their best season from Mcevoy this year and also did well with tom Mitchell but O'meara and especially Vickery were flops - mind you, o'meara could show a return on investment next season.
Solid back-men and midfielders seem to be in abundant supply but consistently good key forwards and ruck-men are as rare as rocking horse sh!t.
