ST KILDA is in a unique position ahead of the 2013 AFL National Draft, with three top-20 selections the club’s only live picks after a busy and fruitful trade period.
The Saints highest selection is number three, a traditionally strong pick since the first National Draft in 1986.
Despite the obvious attention associated with being selected at number one, there are countless examples of players from lower selections enjoying more illustrious careers than their highly fancied co-draftees.
Chris Judd is undoubtedly the finest third pick in the history of the draft, with two Brownlow medals, a premiership, six All-Australians and a Norm Smith medal to his name.
Judd’s selection in the 2001 draft followed Luke Hodge and Luke Ball and all three players have gone on to win premierships and boast illustrious individual records.
In 1994 Sydney selected Shannon Grant with the third pick in the National Draft, and the skilful left-footer went on to become one of the classiest midfielders in the AFL in his time at the Swans and North Melbourne. Grant was also the Norm Smith Medallist in the Kangaroos 1999 premiership team and played 301 games before his retirement in 2008.
Other highly-credentialed number three picks include Steven Febey (1986), Justin Murphy (1993), Trent Croad (1997) Alan Didak (2000) and Ryan Griffin (2004).
Didak and Croad were both integral members in recent premiership teams, while Febey played 258 games across 14 seasons with Melbourne.
VIDEO: Tony Elshaug on the 2013 National Draft
More recently, the third pick has produced a range of valuable contributors, many of whom still have their best football ahead of them. Stephen Hill (2008), Dustin Martin (2009) and Sam Day (2010) are three of the most promising young players in the AFL and have only just started to establish themselves in elite company in the last couple of seasons.
Colin Sylvia was taken by Melbourne in 2003, while Ryan Griffin has recently become a leading ball-winner after he was selected at number three in the 2004 National Draft.
The following year, Xavier Ellis was picked at three, and although the left-footer’s career has been curtailed by injury, he was close to best on ground in the Hawks 2008 premiership victory over Geelong.
Just last month, GWS’s third selection in the 2011 draft (Dom Tyson) was traded to Melbourne, while fellow third picks Lachlan Hansen (NM) and Chris Masten (WC) both enjoyed breakout 2013 campaigns for their respective clubs.
Evidently the number three pick isn’t a pre-requisite for success, but given the top-end quality in this year’s draft, St Kilda looks highly likely to snare a player of considerable talent.
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Josh Kelly, Jack Billings, James Aish, Kade Kolodjashnij, Matthew Scharenberg and Christian Salem are just a handful of names that are likely to be considered by St Kilda ahead of November 21.
You can follow Tom Morris on twitter: @tommorris32
