Throughout the final years of the 1990s, AFL clubs across the land looked backward rather than forward, with selectors, historians and superstars converging to name their Teams of the 20th Century.
So, as we near the quarter-time mark of the 21st century, what better time to run the rule on which players are likely to feature when the selectors of tomorrow get together in several decades' time?
While every club has an array of deadset legends that can be called on, we here at Zero Hanger have employed the following rules of selection:
- Only statistics recorded and achievements accrued since the start of the 2000 AFL season will be acknowledged.
- All statistics and awards must have been accrued while playing for the club in question.
- Any player selected must have played at least 100 senior games for their respective club since the start of the 2000 AFL season.
Next up, we head out to Waverley to hunt down which Hawks have made the cut.
PREVIOUS TOP TENS: CROWS, LIONS, BLUES, PIES, BOMBERS, DOCKERS, CATS, SUNS, GIANTS
2. Sam Mitchell (2002-2016)Â
1 x Brownlow Medal (2012)
1 x Ron Evans Medal (2003)
5 x best and fairest (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2016)
3 x All-Australian (2011, 2013 and 2015)
4 x premiership player (2008, 2013, 2014 and 2015)
307 games, 26.4 disposals, 220 Brownlow votes, 0.7 votes per game
After being overlooked by every AFL club during his draft year, Mitchell developed a chip on his shoulder that drove him to prove people wrong. And prove them wrong he did, with the hard-nosed ball-magnet winning just about everything on offer before heading west for a final season as an Eagle.
Now back at the Hawks' helm, one could mount a convincing argument that nobody has given Hawthorn more of themselves in recent decades than this Brownlow medallist.
