For some people, the off-season proves to be more exciting than any of the 27 weeks of the fixtured year.

Player movements and rumours get everyone excited – us included – as they offer clean slates, new leaves, and a myriad of other clichés for fans and footballers alike.

Every club will contemporarily claim that their trade and draft hauls are of an elite standard, however, time and statistics are the true revealers of quality.

Although some teams are notoriously poor drafters and have a penchant for purchasing players well beyond their use by date, you won't find any of them on this list.

With many thanks to the statistical records of Draftguru, here are, by year, the top ten best recruitment class from clubs in the AFL era based off averaged games played across respective crops.

For example, Hawthorn's 2004 crop of Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Jordan Lewis is weighed down by five players from the same draft class playing a combined five matches.

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10. Hawthorn (2001)

Number of Players Recruited Combined Games Played Average Games
10 971 97

We begin this list with Hawthorn's much-vaunted class of 2001.

The ‘hits' of Luke Hodge (305 games) with the number one pick and Sam Mitchell (307) at pick 36 are well known, as are the names Campbell Brown (159) and Premiership teammate Rick Ladson (125).

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 27: Luke Hodge of the Hawks kisses the Premeirship Cup during the 2014 AFL Grand Final match between the Sydney Swans and the Hawthorn Hawks at Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 27, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

However, despite this quartet of household names, the Hawks find themselves at tenth due to their six ‘busts'.

All three of Nick Stone, Ben Kane and former Bulldog Simon Cox failed to player 50 games in brown and gold stripes, with Daniel Elstone, Michael Georgiadis and Djaran Whyman never even debuting.

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