The clubs good, and bad, at retaining top 10 draft picks

Holding a draft pick among the first 10 selections can make or break a rebuild, with all 18 clubs finding different levels of success and failure at the top end of the draft over the last 15 years.

Adelaide still have five of the six top 10 picks they've drafted in that period, good for 83.33% - the best in the league, but North Melbourne are just shy on 80.00% with a total of 10 players picked in the same bracket.

The Roos are without just two of those players, with 2021 No.1 pick Jason Horne-Francis defecting to Port Adelaide before North Melbourne delisted NGA product Tarryn Thomas last year.

Richmond and Sydney also have a retention rate of 80.00%, having four of the five top 10 picks they've recruited over the past 15 drafts still listed.

On the flipside, there's no shock that GWS and Gold Coast have the worst retention rates, going at 30.43% and 41.67% respectively.

The Giants are without 14 of the 24 players they've taken with top 10 picks since their inception, with veteran Stephen Coniglio the only one of their eight top 10 picks from 2011 still with the club.

The Giants have only drafted two top 10 players in the past five years given their recent placing as a premiership contender in the top half of the competition, while the Suns have had six in that same period - five of which are still at the club.

Gold Coast hold 10 of their 24 top 10 picks, with their first ever draft selection in David Swallow still at the Suns. Their seven top 10 picks between that selection and taking Ben Ainsworth with Pick 4 in 2016 have left the club.

The Suns also took Jack Scrimshaw and Will Brodie with selections seven and nine overall in the same draft as Ainsworth, with the duo now at Hawthorn and Fremantle.

Brisbane are the only other club with fewer than 50% of the top selections they've taken over the past 15 intakes, with Jared Polec (Pick 5, 2010), Billy Longer (Pick 8, 2011), Sam Mayes (Pick 8, 2012) and Josh Scahce (Pick 2, 2015) among their misses.

The Lions have found more success in the early stages of the draft in more recent counts, with father-son trio Will Ashcroft, Jaspa Fletcher and Levi Ashcroft certainly helping.

Along with the Giants, Suns and Roos, Essendon is the only other club that has taken at least 10 top 10 picks since the 2010 draft. The Bombers have retained seven of those, with Dyson Heppell since retiring and Aaron Francis and Joe Daniher leaving for interstate sides.

Geelong have had the fewest picks, having only taken Nakia Cockatoo (Pick 10, 2014) and Jhye Clark (Pick 8, 2022) over the past 15 years.