So I've been pondering the question as to who is the best recruiter in the AFL, plenty in the Wells camp but does this actually stack up with reality or has it been a case of top ups & rorting the AFL system?
2008 - pick 15 Mitchell Brown (80 games)
2009 - pick 17 Daniel Menzel (80 games)
2010 - pick 15 Billy Smedts (47 games)
2012 - pick 16 Jackson Thurlow (53 games)
2013 - pick 17 Darcy Lang (64 games)
2014 - pick 10 Nakia Cockatoo (49 games)
2018 - pick 15 Jordan Clark (56 games)
2019 - pick 17 Cooper Stevens (7 games)
pick 19 Sam De Koning (24 games)
2020 - pick 20 Max Holmes (30 games)
2022 - pick 8 Jhye Clark (0 games)
15 years of top 20 picks and we are still empty handed when it comes to centurians, plenty of leftfield selections, the best looks to be De Koning but let's see how that pans out over the next 5 years. I think his first round strike has been poor, I also don't think he's in the Francis Jackson class although it's difficult to compare given Richmond have had more top 10 picks.