One of the great exercises when talking footy is to debate your club's best draft steals. Sure, high draft picks are great, but everyone knows it's much easier to hit a winner with a top 10 selection than it is with a pick in the 50's. Or in the Rookie Draft for that matter.
So we've decided to put together something for you to refer to next time the debate springs up over a couple of beers.
For the purposes of this exercise, anyone drafted before pick 40 is ineligible and we've decided to keep it in the AFL era. This is by no means a complete list, every year tosses up several gems and sadly, we can't include them all.
So without further distraction, here are our biggest draft steals for every club in the competition.
Collingwood
Dane Swan (pick 58)
This was a no brainer, a walk up Hall of Famer both on and off the field. Dane Swan was taken at pick 58 in the 2001 'SuperDraft' and while he struggled early, he more than made up for it.
Faster than he looked, Swan's contested work around the stoppages and ability to burst away from opponents saw him become the premier midfielder in the game for a while.
His list of achievements is staggering, setting a new record for amount of votes when winning the Brownlow Medal in 2011 just the tip of the iceberg. A 2010 premiership player, Leigh Matthews trophy winner in 2010, five time All-Australian and three time B&F winner, Swan is undoubtedly one of the greatest steals in Draft history.
Honourable mentions: Nick Maxwell (Rookie selection), Heritier Lumumba (Rookie Selection), Tyson Goldsack (pick 63)
