The AFL Draft is one of the most important events in the AFL calendar.
Discussions surrounding a draft prospect can start right from their days as a junior, lasting until their eventual selection. With that comes plenty of pressure, and we've seen many players taken with a high draft pick that have not had the projected careers we may have pegged them to have.
That being said, a re-draft allows us to look at some of the higher picks that have had stellar careers, while also allowing us to delve lower down the draft order and find the players that have gone above and beyond what their draft selection would suggest.
Here are the original 23 picks that made up the first round in 2012:
- Lachie Whitfield (GWS)
- Jonathan O'Rourke (GWS)
- Lachie Plowman (GWS)
- Jimmy Toumpas (Melbourne)
- Jake Stringer (Western Bulldogs)
- Jack Macrae (Western Bulldogs)
- Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide)
- Sam Mayes (Brisbane)
- Nick Vlastuin (Richmond)
- Joe Daniher (Essendon)
- Troy Menzel (Carlton)
- Kristian Jaksch (GWS)
- Jesse Lonergan (Gold Coast)
- Aidan Corr (GWS)
- Taylor Garner (North Melbourne)
- Jackson Thurlow (Geelong)
- Josh Simpson (Fremantle)
- Brodie Grundy (Collingwood)
- Ben Kennedy (Collingwood)
- Tim Broomhead (Collingwood)
- Nathan Hrovat (Western Bulldogs)
- Dean Towers (Sydney)
- Marco Paparone (Brisbane)
With the power of hindsight at hand, here's the first round of the 2012 AFL Draft re-selected.
19. Collingwood: Dean Kent (Originally: Pick 48, Melbourne)
The versatile Demon would now end up as a Magpie, jumping up our draft by 29 positions. Kent showed glimpses of his talent throughout his career and could have possibly been an additional forward threat for the Pies.
Whether Kent would've been able to overcome his plethora of injuries throughout his career is up for debate. A series of recurring soft tissue injuries plagued him throughout his ten-year stint in the league. His career-best season goal tally was 25 goals in 20 games.
