Time always seems to slow down for Magpie skipper Scott Pendlebury whenever he has the ball. Photo: AFL MEDIA
The 2005 AFL national draft proved to be a fruitful one for Collingwood, Geelong, West Coast and Hawthorn, who were all able to pick up important pieces for future premierships.
The Magpies selected Scott Pendlebury, Dale Thomas and Alan Toovey, the Eagles picked up Shannon Hurn and later traded in Josh Kennedy, and the Hawks snaffled Grant Birchall, Brent Guerra, Xavier Ellis, Stephen Gilham and Max Bailey, and would later acquire Matt Spangher and Jonathan Simpkin.
Meanwhile, the Cats recruited Mathew Stokes, Travis Varcoe and Trent West, although none of those three players were able to break into the revised top 10 such was the quality of this draft.
Coming in at No.1 is the sublime Pendlebury, who enjoys a nice little promotion from pick five.
One of the greatest players to ever pull on a Collingwood guernsey, Pendlebury’s consistent output at the highest level has been awe-inspiring, and at the age of 32 with 316 games under his belt, he is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down.
For the fifth time this year, he finished second in the Magpies’ best-and-fairest, and when you consider he has won the award another five times (bettered only by the great Nathan Buckley with six), that means he has ended up in the top two 10 times out of 15 seasons.
He’s also finished third twice, so he has failed to grab a spot on the podium just three times.
Pendlebury is Collingwood’s games record holder and longest-serving captain. Having also won a premiership, a Norm Smith Medal, six All-Australian jumpers (again only bettered by Buckley at Collingwood with seven) and an AFL Coaches Association Champion Player of the Year award, he is a Magpie immortal.
Time always seems to slow down for Pendlebury whenever he has the ball, such is his incredible awareness of his surroundings. An elite user of the footy, his comprehensive skill set has ensured he has been one of the most damaging midfielders of the past 15 years.
As a player who rarely wastes a possession, his impact becomes even more apparent when you consider his career average of 26 disposals, 11 contested possessions, five tackles and four clearances per game.
His career tally of 207 Brownlow Medal votes puts him at seventh on the all-time list and in No.1 spot for Collingwood.
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Coming in at No.2 is champion West Coast spearhead Josh Kennedy, who was originally drafted by Carlton but was traded to the Eagles after just two seasons as part of the famous Chris Judd deal.
Given Judd only played in two winning finals for the Blues, and Kennedy played a key role in delivering West Coast its fourth flag in 2018, you could make a very strong argument that the Eagles won that trade.
With 634 goals for West Coast (for a career total of 645), Kennedy is that club’s all-time leading goalkicker – 120 clear of second-placed Peter Sumich.
The two-time Coleman medallist has earned a reputation as one of the finest forwards of the modern era, having also claimed three All-Australian jumpers and led the Eagles’ goalkicking on seven occasions.
The prime of his career came between 2013-2017, when he kicked 352 goals, including a career-best of 82 in 2016, at an average of 70 per season. He also has three bags of 10 to his credit, which is very rare for any player in this day and age. His biggest haul of 11 came against GWS in 2014.
Four-time premiership Hawk Birchall comes in at No.3, while star Eagles duo Hurn and Matt Priddis round out the top five.
Priddis proved to be a huge bargain given he was taken as a mature-age recruit with pick 31 in the rookie draft. He essentially earns a whopping promotion of 112 spots – not bad for a Brownlow winner.
It was tough to split Marc Murphy, Dale Thomas and Shaun Higgins, but in the end Murphy took sixth spot, Thomas came in at seven (which amounted to demotions of five positions each for the original top two) and Higgins got slightly upgraded from 11 to eight.
Another steal in Sydney premiership star Kieren Jack comes in at No.9 after being selected with pick 58 in the rookie draft, which essentially amounts to a 135-spot upgrade.
All-Australian ruckman Paddy Ryder rounds out the top 10. Apologies go out to Varcoe, Stokes, Ellis, former Melbourne captain Nathan Jones, ex-Kangaroos skipper Andrew Swallow, two-time best-and-fairest winner Bernie Vince and his former Adelaide teammate Richard Douglas, who missed out on selection in the revised top 10.
Two other huge bargains in Ben McGlynn, taken by Hawthorn with pick 55 in the rookie draft, and Toovey, pick two in the rookie draft, deserve special mentions too.
Five players ended up slipping out of the original top 10 – Ellis, his ex-Hawthorn teammate Beau Dowler, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls, Mitch Clark and Marcus Drum.
*Redrafts only consider the first time a player was drafted.
