One of the great exercises when talking footy is to debate your club's best draft steals. Sure, high draft picks are great, but everyone knows it's much easier to hit a winner with a top 10 selection than it is with a pick in the 50's. Or in the Rookie Draft for that matter.
So we've decided to put together something for you to refer to next time the debate springs up over a couple of beers.
For the purposes of this exercise, anyone drafted before pick 40 is ineligible and we've decided to keep it in the AFL era. This is by no means a complete list, every year tosses up several gems and sadly, we can't include them all.
So without further distraction, here are our biggest draft steals for every club in the competition.
Melbourne
James McDonald (pick 78)
The Dees have had a few very nice steals over the years but in terms of value, it's hard to go past James McDonald. A heart and soul player who gave everything to the club, getting him at pick 79 is one they can be justifiably delighted with.
Playing 251 games for Melbourne, perhaps the only downside is that McDonald could have played even more games, after being shown the door by Mark Neeld.
An All-Australian in 2006, JMac also won back to back B&F's in 2006 and 2007. His leadership, work ethic and toughness saw him called up for the International Rules series in 2006 as well. Truly great value for a pick in the late 70's.
Honourable mentions: Aaron Davey (Rookie selection), Russell Robertson (Pick 48), Cameron Bruce (pick 64), Mark Jamar (Rookie selection)
