The remarkable thing about that list though is the distinct lack of premierships for most of them.
Just shows that getting Pick 1 isn't the Holy Grail its made out to be, and that 1 very good player isn't worth selling the farm for.
That’s a very popular view, but I‘ll present for debate that the lack of flags among #1 picks suggests only two things:
1. Wooden spoon clubs aren’t entitled to win premierships within a decade or so of winning the wooden spoon
2. Successful clubs generally aren’t in a realistic position to trade for Pick 1.
We’d all agree that for a team sport with 44 players on match day and 36 on the ground at once, one player will never make up the difference between a team of 22 players at a good club vs 22 players at a bad club. Point #2 is the interesting one, as it doesn't apply to us. We are a successful club with a realistic hand to deal for Pick 1.
In context of our ageing dynasty list and the 2021 draft... when else would we ever get access to a bonafide elite talent at a young age to develop as a future leader under Dimma, Trent, Jack, Shane, etc?
I raise that specific question because we could be the first ever dynasty club to:
a.) still have most of our premiership veterans playing
b.) still be in the hunt next year,
c.) ...while also having the most draft currency of any club.
It’s a unique position giving us the rare ability to hedge our bets - we could allow the possibility of everything going right next year by drafting a player who can impact immediately, while also looking long-term for a leader 12 years from now. Only the very top picks give you that.
Dynasty clubs generally can’t access them. We can.
I know it’s not as simple as I’m framing it and there’s so many other factors that I‘m certainly overlooking, but it’d be original. If we look to the past, we relinquish our opportunity to be the first club to get the dynasty list situation right.
All the previous dynasty clubs have failed, as the system intended for them to do, but most of them are irrelevant to us anyway because the game’s professionalism and direction has changed by more than Richo’s goal-kicking accuracy from one week to the next.
(*ahem* That’s a lot...)
Geelong’s dynasty, ending just 10 years ago, was the first time in this sport’s history in which all clubs finally had full-time recruiters.
I guess the broader point I’m trying to make is the AFL as a sport is primed for innovative thinking. Historical patterns are of limited significance. It so happens that we
have been willing to tear down the old and build something new in recent years, as symbolised by Trent giving up #17, Gale changing our club logo, or demolishing an old stand. We’ve been very willing to be revolutionary in a period of rapid change. History can only help us so much right now.
Bold, new ways of thinking has worked out well for us, and our current draft hand affords us the gift of unshackled creativity in a draft environment that has little history to draw upon.
In that light, we’re primed to do something novel in this draft amidst a buffet of live trade options on the night. I’d love to snare Pick 1, and shortly thereafter create new evidence, hopefully, against the idea that #1 picks don’t win premierships.
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