Jason Horne-Francis (left), Nick Daicos (middle) and Nic Martin were three of the best players picked up in the 2021/22 off-season. Photos: AFL MEDIA, AAP

Footyology’s famous Redraft series is back for another year, and first cab off the rank in the lead-up to the upcoming draft on November 20 is the class of 2021.

And while the dust is still settling on this cluster of youngsters selected three years ago, some pretty clear trends are already developing when it comes to reorganising the pecking order of the talent.

And as this exercise will reveal, there is certainly no shortage of exciting prodigies to choose from.

Before we get stuck into the 2021 Redraft proper, the recruiters should take a bow because six members of the original top 10 have retained their top-10 status upon revision.

But when it comes to crowning a new No.1, the decision is pretty easy. Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos is comfortably the top selection, and there’s probably daylight in second.

The Magpies hit the jackpot by securing his services as a father-son recruit, and surprisingly he was originally taken at pick four because North Melbourne and GWS opted against making a bid for him. Perhaps they deemed it a pointless exercise, but it certainly didn’t ensure an accurate price for the brilliant midfielder/defender.

In three short seasons, Daicos has become one of the best players in the competition. A knee injury late in 2023 probably robbed him of a Brownlow Medal in just his second year, and this year he broke the Brownlow vote record with 38, but unfortunately for him, so did Carlton captain Patrick Cripps (45).

So he has already come awfully close to capturing two Brownlows by the tender age of 21.

There is not much that the son of Collingwood champion Peter can’t do.

His skills are sensational, he hardly ever makes a mistake and he can be put anywhere on the park and have a massive impact.

Daicos is a sensational rebounding defender, a damaging midfielder and a sharpshooter in front of goal as well. In short, he is the complete package, and has only played 70 games.

In that period of time, he has already won a premiership, two All-Australian jumpers, an AFLCA champion player of the year, a best-and-fairest and a Rising Star award.

The prolific ball winner averages 29 disposals (10 contested) per match, and last year dispelled suggestions that he doesn’t like a hard ball by averaging 14 contested possessions and eight clearances a game.

Incredibly, he has registered 30 possessions on 32 occasions (that’s almost half of his career games), including seven instances of cracking the 40-disposal mark. At the rate he’s going he might not only end up one of Collingwood’s all-time greats, but a legend of the sport full stop.

Coming in at No.2 in the Redraft is Port Adelaide dynamo Jason Horne-Francis who has also quickly become one of the best on-ballers in the league and perhaps behind only Zak Butters as the premier midfielder at the Power.

Horne-Francis was originally selected by North Melbourne of course, but never settled into life in Victoria and got his wish for a return home less than 12 months later.

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The blonde youngster is already reminiscent of Collingwood champion Nathan Buckley with his explosiveness and uncompromising attack on the ball.

He has gone from strength to strength in his first three seasons, and had a personal-best campaign last year that saw him average 22 touches (11 contested) and six clearances and kick 27 goals to be a driving force behind the side’s push to another preliminary final.

Rounding out the top three is by far the biggest bargain of this particular off-season in Essendon gun Nic Martin who was one of the last players signed in the supplementary selection period mere weeks before the 2022 season began.

Since kicking five goals on debut, Martin has not looked back, rapidly becoming one of the Bombers’ best and most important players with top-eight best-and-fairest finishes in each of his first three years, including a second this season.

Wherever he is placed on the ground, he has an influence. Martin was stationed down back predominately last year because coach Brad Scott wanted to add some polish to that part of the field by exploiting the 23-year-old’s usually deadly skills.

But he’s a naturally attacking wingman who is capable of kicking goals regularly and providing the midfield with valuable support. He averages 24 disposals in his 67 games and has also kicked 51 goals, including bags of five and four. How so many clubs overlooked him, most notably the Eagles and Dockers in his native WA, remains a mystery.

Completing the revised top five is St Kilda’s silky smooth defender Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, who gets a mini upgrade from pick 11 to four, and precocious Bulldogs father-son selection Sam Darcy, who slips down a notch from No.4.

Young Fremantle goalkicker Jye Amiss moves up from eight to six, promising GWS on-baller Finn Callaghan drops from three to seven and Hawthorn young gun Connor Macdonald enjoys a nice boost from 26 up to eight.

Meanwhile, newly-minted Brisbane premiership defender Darcy Wilmot climbs five places from 14 to nine and Gold Coast swing man Mac Andrew slides from five to 10 just a couple of months after signing a multi-million-dollar contract extension with the Suns.

Players who were perhaps unlucky to miss the cut of this Redraft top 10 are Adelaide goalsneak Josh Rachele, Brisbane forward Kai Lohmann, Melbourne defender Judd McVee, reigning Rising Star Oliver Dempsey and Rachele’s teammate Jake Soligo.

St Kilda duo Mitchito Owens and Marcus Windhager, Demons spearhead Jacob van Rooyen, North Melbourne small forward Paul Curtis and Gold Coast backman Bodhi Uwland also missed out.

But the good news for those players is that these rankings are far from set in stone, and with hopefully at least another decade of footy ahead of them all, they have plenty of time to break their way into the top 10.

Rachele, Hawthorn’s Josh Ward, injury-prone Richmond defender Josh Gibcus and Fremantle midfielder Neil Erasmus all dropped out of the original top 10.

*Redrafts only take into consideration the first time a player was drafted