The 2013 draft features perhaps the best top-end talent of any count since 2010.

The top three selections of this re-draft astonishingly hold well over 400 Brownlow votes between them, accompanied by multiple All-Australians and top-tier awards including a Brownlow Medal and premiership medallions.

Hindsight updates to this draft create a plethora of exciting changes and strange fits, and you can decide whether your club benefits or goes backwards.

But first, here is the original first round of picks:

  1. Tom Boyd (GWS)
  2. Josh Kelly (GWS)
  3. Jack Billings (St Kilda)
  4. Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)
  5. Kade Kolodjashnij (Gold Coast)
  6. Matt Scharenberg (Collingwood)
  7. James Aish (Brisbane)
  8. Luke McDonald (North Melbourne)ย f/s
  9. Christian Salem (Melbourne)
  10. Nathan Freeman (Collingwood)
  11. Dom Sheed (West Coast)
  12. Ben Lennon (Ben Lennon)
  13. Patrick Cripps (Carlton)
  14. Cam McCarthy (GWS)
  15. Zak Jones (Sydney)
  16. Darcy Lang (Geelong)
  17. Michael Apeness (Fremantle)
  18. Luke Dunstan (St Kilda)
  19. Blake Acres (St Kilda)
  20. Jack Leslie (Gold Coast)

Note: All matched bids for Academy and Next Generation Academy prospects in this re-draft are based on what we know about how those players' careers have panned out, to date.

13. Christian Salem - GWS (Originally: Pick 9, Melbourne)

Salem hasn't done much wrong in his career to slide down this draft, but in this world he joins the Giants to make room for the cream of the crop in the top 12.

Post-2021, Salem may have stayed at his original pick or even featured higher, coming off a brilliant Grand Final performance as the skilful half-back ball user in a 74-point victory.

AFL Rd 4 - Melbourne v Geelong
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 11: Christian Salem of the Demons kicks during the round four AFL match between the Melbourne Demons and the Geelong Cats at Melbourne Cricket Ground on April 11, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

He averaged 25 disposals and six marks in this premiership year, but has since fallen, partly due to nagging off-season injuries but also an apparent lack of confidence through the back half of 2023 in particular.

For the Giants, he adds precision out of defensive 50 besides Lachie Whitfield, and is eventually joined by a fellow half-back runner in Lachie Ash, possibly giving Whitfield more midfield minutes as the team challenges for flags through 2017-2023.