Thursday night’s NAB AFL Draft will be Adelaide’s 18th national draft meeting.

Adelaide’s first selection in a national draft was in 1992 when it selected Marty McKinnon from Central District with pick 26. The Crows selected five players that year with only Matthew Powell (16 games) and McKinnon (25 games) going on to play for the club.

The 1993 and 1994 draft’s yielded five players for only a combined total of 14 games. Adelaide’s first significant draftee was in 1995, when it selected Kane Johnson with its second round pick (no.27).

Johnson played 104 games for the club and was a two-time Premiership player. He went to play 116 games for Richmond and also captained the club for two years.

Adelaide Life Member Ian Perrie was selected with pick 49 in the 1997 draft and went on to play 116 games over 10 years, kicking 149 goals.

A record seven players entered the club through the 1998 draft. Most notable were Brett Burton, Ken McGregor and Tyson Stenglein. Burton and McGregor, both drafted from the Eagles in the SANFL, went on to forge long and successful careers at the Crows.

Stenglein notched up 106 games before returning home to Perth to play for West Coast, and was a runner-up in Club Champion voting in 2004 to Mark Ricciuto.

More Woodville-West Torrens recruits came to the club in 1999 with Rhett Biglands (134 games) and Robert Shirley (151 games), along with Justin Cicolella who played five games.

Arguably Adelaide’s best ‘bargain’ selection came in 2000 when at no.67 (fourth round) the Crows called out Graham Johncock’s name. Before him were four players with only Hayden Skipworth representing the club (44 games), while Johncock has played 184 games and this year took out the 19th Man Award voted by Adelaide’s members.

The last decade has seen Adelaide’s draft selections form an important part of its current playing list, with 16 players selected in a national draft representing the club in 2010.

Brent Reilly, no.12 in the 2001 draft, has played 135 games, while 2010 club champion Richard Douglas was Adelaide’s 2005 first round pick at no.16.

Fellow first round selections James Sellar (2006 no.14), Patrick Dangerfield (2007 no.10) and Phil Davis (2008 no.10) are important members of the current squad.

The class of 2007, while still inexperienced, has produced a good strike rate with six of the seven players going on to play for the club. Four of Adelaide’s five selections from the 2008 pool have also played AFL football, while Jack Gunston debuted for the club from the 2009 batch.

Adelaide’s AFL National Draft history

1992
- 26: Marty McKinnon, Central District
- 41: Brooke Fogden, West Adelaide
- 56: Matthew Powell, South Adelaide
- 86: Sam Smart, Norwood
- 116: Michael Godden, West Adelaide

1993
- 44: Eugene Warrior Port Adelaide (SANFL)

1994
- 27: Toby Kennett, Sturt
- 31: Allen Nash, Western U18
- 38: Matthew Collins, Northern U18
- 50: Brett Higgins, Port Adelaide (SANFL)

1995
- 18: Brent Williams, Prahran U18
- 27: Kane Johnson, Eastern U18
- 45: Scott Hodges, Port Adelaide (SANFL)
- 53: Adam Ugrinic, Woodville-West Torrens
- 70: Ashley Fernee, Calder U18

1996
- 13 Tom Gilligan, Dandenong-Southern U18
- 60 Andrew Eccles, Northern U18
- 69 Chad Rintoul, East Fremantle
- 76 Greg Dempsey, West Adelaide
- 86 Ben Parker, Murray U18

1997
- 17 Lance Picioane Western U18
- 33 James Thiessen Norwood
- 49 Ian Perrie East Perth
- 65 Linden Stevens Sturt

1998
- 16, Brett Burton, Woodville-West Torrens
- 29, Tyson Stenglein, Subiaco
- 34, Bryan Beinke, Port Adelaide (SANFL)
- 48, Lucas Herbert, North Adelaide
- 63, Clint Kirey, East Fremantle
- 75, Ken McGregor, Woodville-West Torrens
- 80, Brodie Atkinson, Sturt

1999
- 36: Rhett Biglands, Woodville-West Torrens
- 51: Ricky O'Loughlin, Port Adelaide (SANFL)
- 65: Justin Cicolella, Woodville-West Torrens
- 67: Robert Shirley, Woodville-West Torrens
- 79: Balraj Singh, West Adelaide
- 83: Matthew Shir, Murray U18

2000
- 7: Laurence Angwin, Dandenong U18
- 38: Michael Handby Dandenong U18
- 48: Matthew Smith Oakleigh U18
- 53: Hayden Skipworth, Woodville-West Torrens
- 67: Graham Johncock Port Adelaide (SANFL)

2001
- 12: Brent Reilly, Calder U18
- 44: Ben Finnin, Northern U18
- 59: Jacob Schuback, Gippsland U18

2002
- 32: Luke Jericho, West Adelaide
- 56: Robert Shirley, Adelaide
- 68: James Begley, St Kilda

2003
- 14: Fergus Watts, Sandringham U18
- 31: Joshua Krueger, Glenelg
- 58: Ben Hudson, Werribee

2004
- 8: John Meesen, Geelong U18
- 24: Nathan van Berlo, West Perth
- 28: Chad Gibson, Norwood
- 40: Ivan Maric, Calder U18
- 56: Chris Knights, Eastern U18

2005
- 16: Richard Douglas, Calder U18
- 17: Darren Pfeiffer, Norwood
- 32: Bernie Vince, Woodville-West Torrens
- 48: Alan Obst, Central District

2006
- 14: James Sellar, Glenelg
- 32: Kurt Tippett, Southport
- 48: David Mackay, Oakleigh U18
- 64: Nick Gill, North Adelaide
- 78: Bryce Campbell, Norwood

2007
- 10: Patrick Dangerfield, Geelong U18
- 27: Andy Otten, Oakleigh U18
- 30: Jarrhan Jacky, Subiaco
- 38: Myke Cook, Sandringham U18
- 58: Tony Armstrong, NSW-ACT U18
- 71: Aaron Kite, Calder U18
- 75: Taylor Walker, NSW-ACT U18

2008
- 10: Phil Davis, North Adelaide
- 28: Shaun McKernan, Calder U18
- 44: Rory Sloane, Eastern U18
- 60: Tom Lee, Claremont
- 72: Will Young, North Ballarat U18

2009
- 13: Daniel Talia, Calder Cannons U18
- 29: Jack Gunston, Sandringham U18
- 45: Sam Shaw, Oakleigh U18
- 61: James Craig, North Adelaide