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.
1. Geelong (1999)
| Number of Players Recruited | Combined Games Played | Average Games |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1401 | 127 |
Topping our list is none other than the gold standard Geelong class of 1999.
Although the Cat's class of 2020 may see them win another flag, the year prior to the millennium is without doubt recruitment manager Stephen Wells' masterpiece.
Corey Enright (332 games), Joel Corey (276), Paul Chapman (251), Cameron Ling (246) and Cameron Mooney (210) all joined the club and along with the class of '01, would create the nucleus of Geelong's three premierships between 2007 and 2011.
Despite adding talent across the paddock, there were a handful of misses for Wells and his team.
David Spriggs (64) did manage to tear through his celebratory banner, but Daniel Foster (17), Marcus Baldwin, Brent Cowell, Ezra Bray and Shane Ryan (all zero) failed to join him.
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