Who has been Adelaide’s best bargain pick at the National Draft?
The Club has enjoyed great success in the draft over the years and has often made the most of its selections further down the order.
Adelaide picked up key-position player Ken McGregor with its penultimate pick in the 1998 National Draft.
The Woodville-West Torrens youngster slipped all the way to selection No.75 but went on to forge a long career with the Crows. The strong-marking tall played 152 games across 10 seasons in both defence and attack, slotting 114 goals including 31 majors in 2005 to be Adelaide’s third-best scorer of the season.
Rugged onballer Robert Shirley, also from Woodville-West Torrens, played 151 games for the Crows after he was initially drafted with pick No.67 – Adelaide’s fourth selection in the 1999 National Draft.
Shirley emerged as a valuable team player during a time where the Club was blessed with a plethora of quality midfielders including Andrew McLeod, Mark Ricciuto and Tyson Edwards. The strong-willed onballer flourished under the guidance of Neil Craig and found his niche as a tagger, claiming the scalps of Chris Judd and Gary Ablett among many others throughout his career.
The Crows struck gold again with pick No.67 the following year, welcoming Graham Johncock to the Club at the 2000 National Draft.
The small forward quickly became a fan favourite for his aggressive attack on the ball and great goal sense. Johncock kicked 65 goals through his first three seasons at AFL level and won Adelaide’s leading goalkicker award in 2003, but a switch to defence under Neil Craig proved a masterstroke and was where he spent the majority of his 227-game career.
All clubs overlooked Rory Sloane at the 2007 National Draft before the Crows swooped with their third selection (pick No.44 overall) the following year.
Sloane still has plenty of footy ahead of him, but he has already proven to be a bargain buy. The Victorian has become one of the League’s elite midfielders, winning his second Club Champion award and his first All Australian blazer this year after a career-best season. An outstanding leader and consummate professional, Sloane is among Adelaide’s great draft success stories.
Armed with its lowest live selection in over a decade, Adelaide called Rory Atkins’ name with pick No.81 in the 2012 National Draft.
He was the second-last live pick of his draft class and is the only Crow chosen beyond pick 80 to play more than 11 AFL games. It’s still only early in the left-footer’s young career, but Atkins has already showed signs that he was worth the gamble. He played every game this year and kicked 11 goals, including match-winning majors against Sydney in Round Four and West Coast at Domain Stadium in Round 12. At just 22 years of age, Atkins still has his best years to come.
Who has been Adelaide’s greatest National Draft steal? Have your say below!
