With the AFL Draft looming, pundits and analysts of every pay grade have their focus set on this year's top-end talent.

Should you spend enough time examining phantom drafts, highlights packages and anything uttered by the guru Kevin Sheehan, it becomes glaringly evident who will be taken with a first-round selection.

But what then of those names that slip? What about those that will miss out altogether?

Since 1997, the league has implemented a secondary Rookie Draft for the project players, sliders and risky names that failed to have their names called.

Although the rookie list now appears to be a haven for ageing champions instead of a home for up and comers, here's hoping that when the competition finally settles post COVID-19, that it can return to its initial purpose.

Across the 23 seasons of the Rookie Draft there have been multiple names that never made the senior grade, but for the multitude of untried delistees, there have been a handful of diamonds excavated from the rubble.

Here are the 10 biggest names that found their way onto AFL lists via the Rookie Draft.

2. Stephen Milne

Ask anyone who the greatest small forward of all time is and you're likely to receive an array of replies that represent a plethora of biases.

Although names like Bartlett, Daicos, Betts and Matthews will invariably be raised, the debate is incomplete unless Stephen Milne is mentioned.

Following his superb performance against St. Kilda in the 1999 Reserves Grand Final, Milne was selected by the Saints with the 23rd pick of that years Rookie Draft.

Forced to bide his time in the twos throughout 2000, Milne hit the ground running the following year with 27 goals across 17 games.

In his next twelve seasons, โ€˜The Tiprat' would continue to hit the scoreboard regularly, including a season best tally of 61 in 2005 that reached its crescendo in Round 22 when he slotted 11 straight against Brisbane.

Universally despised outside of the Moorabbin postcode, the pint-sized forward often thrived when opposition players and fans were at their most poisonous.

Although off-field incidents tarnished his name, Milne managed to finish his 275-game career as the Saints' leading goalkicker on four occasions, an All-Australian twice and with a 2.09 goals per game average.

Love him or loathe him, this list is incomplete without him.