Each year AFL clubs decide their list strategies and assess whether a strong draft hand is likely to yield benefits comparable to the trade assets the picks are worth.
As clubs push higher up the draft board they gain the security that they can draft the players they rate the highest before other clubs and, consequently, increase their chance of securing successful long-term recruits.
Nonetheless, this strategy is not foolproof and hindsight exposes the difficult reality of ranking the ability and potential of players before they have been introduced to an AFL environment.
In this list, the first round of the 2016 National Draft will be reassessed with the benefit of six years of AFL data.
Below is the original 2016 first round:
- Andrew McGrath
- Tim Taranto
- Hugh McCluggage
- Ben Ainsworth
- Will Setterfield
- Sam Petrevski-Seton
- Jack Scrimshaw
- Griffin Logue
- Will Brodie
- Jack Bowes
- Oliver Florent
- Jy Simpkin
- Daniel Venables
- Harry Perryman
- Jordan Gallucci
- Todd Marshall
- Jarrod Berry
- Sam Powell-Pepper
- Tim English
- Isaac Cumming
- Will Hayward
In this draft year, a number of players were taken as father-son and academy selections (eg. Will Setterfield, Jack Bowes, Harry Perryman). The nominal draft order will be adjusted to reflect what clubs would have actually taken into this hypothetical draft.
Where these players are selected it will be assumed that the clubs that matched their bids in the original 2016 draft will continue to do so regardless of where they land in this order.
16. Pick 16: Andrew McGrath - Brisbane (Original position - Pick 1)
The former number one pick in the 2016 draft slides to Pick 16 in this redraft despite winning the Rising Star Award in his debut season.
A natural leader, the quadruple AFLPA 22under22 selected star has failed to fill the shoes of veteran Dyson Heppell in a full-time midfield role, with form and injury issues constraining him to the role of a medium defender.
Further hindering his development is the fact that McGrath played more than 20 games in each of his first three seasons but has failed to do so in any of his last three.
Nonetheless, Brisbane would be thrilled with this hypothetical acquisition and his qualities perfectly suit the tough outfit, as highlighted by his winning of the Adam Ramanauskas Most Courageous Player Award in 2020.
