Some of the best talent in today's competition came from the 2014 AFL Draft, many of which were selected outside of the first round.
In this re-draft of the first round of picks, 11 of the 20 players find themselves premiership players, including one premiership captain, whilst many others have earned individual success such as All-Australian blazers and first place finishes in club best and fairest counts.
11 players from the original top 20 selected didn't earn a spot in our re-draft in what was a hit-and-miss opening round of selections.
Here is the original first round of picks:
- Paddy McCartin (St Kilda)
- Christian Petracca (Melbourne)
- Angus Brayshaw (Melbourne)
- Jarrod Pickett (GWS)
- Jordan De Goey (Collingwood)
- Caleb Marchbank (GWS)
- Paul Ahern (GWS)
- Peter Wright (Gold Coast)
- Darcy Moore (Collingwood)ย f/s
- Nakia Cockatoo (Geelong)
- Liam Duggan (West Coast)
- Corey Ellis (Richmond)
- Lachie Weller (Fremantle)
- Jake Lever (Adelaide)
- Jarrod Garlett (Gold Coast)
- Sam Durdin (North Melbourne)
- Kyle Langford (Essendon)
- Isaac Heeney (Sydney)
- Blaine Boekhorst (Carlton)
- Jayden Laverde (Essendon)
Note: All matched bids for Academy and Next Generation Academy prospects and Father-Son prospects in this re-draft are based on what we know about how those players' careers have panned out, to date. Those picks won't be permitted in this re-draft, however clubs that acquired Academy or father-son selections will hold their place in the order.ย
19. Dougal Howard - Carlton (Originally: Pick 56, Port Adelaide)
Originally taken as a forward by Port Adelaide, Dougal Howard would have been drafted higher had he started his career down back, with his positional change to a permanent key defender at St Kilda showing that his best footy is played in the backline.
A third-place finish in the Trevor Barker Medal in his first year at St Kilda proves just how capable Howard could be down back.
It would've been interesting to see how his career would've started had he been drafted to Carlton at Pick 19, with Mick Malthouse sacked in 2015 and Carlton taking the wooden spoon. However, Howard potentially would have received more game time given the Blues were entering a rebuilding phase, after he didn't debut until Round 2, 2016 at the Power.