St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt completes the rare double of being the No.1 pick in both an original and a revised top 10. Photo: AFL MEDIA.

It’s November, which means the 2023 AFL national draft is less than three weeks away.

It also means that Footyology’s famous “Redraft” series is back for another year.

In this year’s first instalment, we cast our eye over the 2000 draft.

Ultimately, only two players who were picked in the original top 10, St Kilda champion Nick Riewoldt and Collingwood goalsneak Alan Didak, survived the cut in the revised top 10.

And not only did Riewoldt hold is place in the top 10, but he also retained his status as the No.1 pick upon revision.

It’s very rare for the top pick from a draft to also end up being the best player from his class, but Riewoldt managed to pull it off.

The former St Kilda captain was no ordinary player. Renowned for his relentless work ethic and supreme fitness, which not only saw the superstar centre-half forward run 10-15km most games, but also run 2-3km as part of his pre-game warm-up, at 193cm tall and around 90kg, Riewoldt was a genetic freak.

The centrepiece of the Saints’ most recent premiership window, he was instrumental in guiding the success-starved club to five preliminary finals and three grand finals (including a replay) in seven years between 2004-2010.

Across 17 seasons with the Saints, he played 336 games and kicked 718 goals – tallies which rank him second and third at the club all-time respectively.

He also captained St Kilda for a club record 221 games in 10 years, placing him fourth on the VFL/AFL list behind Geelong’s Joel Selwood (247), Carlton’s Stepehen Kernahan (226) and Essendon’s Dick Reynolds (224).

During his illustrious career, Riewoldt picked up six best-and-fairests, an AFLPA MVP, five All-Australian jumpers and the 2002 Rising Star award.

Mark-taking and goalkicking were big parts of his game, but so was his courage. Who could ever forget this incredible grab he took at the SCG in 2004?

Coming in at No.2 in the 2000 Redraft is Hawthorn and Port Adelaide superstar Shaun Burgoyne who enjoys a nice upgrade of 10 spots from pick 12, where he was originally taken by the Power.

Aptly nicknamed “Silk”, Burgoyne’s exquisite skills, slick movement and sharp decision-making made him an absolute delight to watch over the course of his 21-year career.

Burgoyne was an integral part of four premiership sides – one at Port Adelaide, and three with the Hawks.

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The All-Australian midfielder finished his career with a whopping 407 games and 302 goals, making him just the fifth player to reach 400 games in league history, and the first Indigenous player to do so.

Only North Melbourne superstar Brent Harvey (432) and Hawthorn legend Michael Tuck (426) have played more VFL/AFL matches than Burgoyne.

Making Burgoyne’s career even more remarkable was the fact that when he arrived at Hawthorn after 157 games at the Power, he was on crutches, and there were doubts over how much more footy he had left in him.

Well, he emphatically proved the doubters wrong, racking up another 250 with the Hawks to etch his name into footy immortality.

Rounding out the revised 2000 draft top three is the brilliant, but troubled, West Coast on-baller Daniel Kerr who formed one quarter of one of the greatest midfields ever assembled which also featured Dean Cox, Chris Judd and Ben Cousins.

Explosive, dynamic and tough as nails, Kerr, originally picked at No.18, was one of the catalysts behind the Eagles’ 2006 premiership.

Kerr played 220 games and booted 122 goals in 13 seasons with West Coast, averaging 21 disposals (11 contested), five clearances and three tackles a match.

He also finished third and equal second in the 2006 and 2007 Brownlow Medals respectively.

But sadly, like so many of his teammates from that great West Coast era, he has had well-documented off-field issues both during his career and in retirement.

Completing the top five are Port Adelaide premiership star Kane Cornes, who rises 16 spots from 20 to four, and Adelaide gun Scott Thompson, who gets a boost of 11 positions from 16, where Melbourne originally drafted him, to No.5.

Didak slides from three to six, while his 2010 premiership teammate Darren Jolly gets a significant boost from pick 31 in the rookie draft, where he was selected by the Demons, all the way up to No.7, which represents an upgrade of some 123 spots.

North Melbourne spearhead Drew Petrie rises from 23 to eight, Sydney premiership defender Ted Richards, initially drafted by Essendon, is catapulted from 27 to nine and Geelong cult figure Max Rooke, who was known as Jarrad when first picked up by the Cats with the 41st pick of the rookie draft, zooms 130 spots up the charts to take 10th position.

*Redrafts only consider the first time a player was drafted.