In 2020, Lachie Neale (511) finished 36 clear of the next-highest disposer of the footy, Jack Macrae (475). Photo: AFL MEDIA

The 2011 AFL national draft served as the foundation stone for the Greater Western Sydney Football Club ahead of its entry into the AFL in 2012.

As part of its generous concessions, GWS received eight top-10 picks that year, and 11 of the first 14 in all.

But after getting the Footyology “Redraft” treatment nine years down the track, the Giants have come out the other side with only four players inside the revised top 10, one of whom (Taylor Adams) doesn’t play for them anymore.

And considering only two of those four players were original members of the top 10, that means only a quarter of GWS’s 2011 top-10 picks held their places in the top bracket upon revision.

But when it comes to No.1 spot in the 2011 Redraft, that mantle belongs to Brisbane superstar Lachie Neale, who will go down as one of the biggest sliders in national draft history.

Originally taken by Fremantle with pick No.58, Neale has cemented himself as one of the premier players in the league after a second dominant season with the Lions, which finished with him claiming the biggest individual honour of all – the Brownlow Medal.

It’s surprising that Neale hasn’t yet been admitted to hospital for leather poisoning, because he is one of the most prolific ball-winners in the AFL.

In season 2020, Neale (511) finished 36 clear of the next-highest disposer of the footy in the Western Bulldogs’ Jack Macrae (475), and now has a career average of 27 touches across 178 games with the Dockers and Lions.

The 27-year-old also averages 13 contested possessions, six clearances and four tackles in a nine-year career, to assure his membership in the top of echelon of the AFL’s most damaging players.

Neale has cracked 40 touches in a game on 11 occasions, including a 51-disposal effort against Richmond last year – the equal-fifth biggest haul since records in that category began in 1965.

As well as this year’s Brownlow, Neale has collected an AFL Players’ Association MVP, an AFL Coaches’ Association champion player of the year award, two All-Australian selections and four best-and-fairests. It must be incredibly tough for Fremantle supporters to watch Neale become the player he has with the Lions.

In second spot in the revised order is another Brownlow medallist – Tom Mitchell.

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Originally taken by the Swans as a father-son selection at No.21, the son of Barry Mitchell took his game to a new level at his new club, like Neale did at the Lions.

Since joining the Hawks in 2017 after starring for Sydney in its grand final loss to the Bulldogs, Mitchell has won the 2018 Brownlow, an AFLPA MVP, two All-Australian jumpers and two best-and-fairests.

And like Neale, Mitchell is an absolute ball magnet, boasting an eye-watering career average of 29 touches across 128 games, as well as 13 contested possessions, six tackles and five clearances.

In round one of 2018, the former Swan broke the all-time disposal record when he gathered the pill a whopping 54 times in a 34-point win over Collingwood.

Mitchell is the only player in history to record three 50-plus disposal games. In fact, no other player has achieved the feat on multiple occasions.

In all, the 27-year-old has cracked 40 touches 16 times, 11 of which came during his career-best 2018 campaign.

Coming in at No.3 is West Coast superstar Elliot Yeo (originally drafted by Brisbane), while GWS pair Toby Greene and Stephen Coniglio round out the top five.

Hawthorn’s Chad Wingard (Port Adelaide) stays put at No.6, and is followed by star GWS defender Nick Haynes, Collingwood vice-captain Taylor Adams (GWS), St Kilda speedster Bradley Hill (Hawthorn), and one of the biggest bargains of the 2011 draft, Marc Blicavs.

Blicavs rounds out the top 10 after being selected by the Cats with pick 54 in the rookie draft as a category B unregistered player. That amounts to an upgrade of 151 picks for the star Geelong utility.

And while some might question why Coniglio and Wingard are so high in the revised order after a couple of lean years for the star pair, it’s easy to forget how good they were before their recent form slumps.

Coniglio’s on-field brilliance earned him the captaincy and a seven-year deal with the Giants, while Wingard was a two-time All-Australian with the Power and also won their best-and-fairest in 2013.

Meanwhile, three other steals from the 2011 draft worth mentioning are Adelaide’s Rory Laird, who was snapped up with pick five in the rookie draft, Collingwood speedster Jack Crisp, taken at 40 by the Lions in the rookie draft, and Sydney midfielder Harry Cunningham, who was snared by the Swans with the 93rd pick of the rookie draft – essentially, pick 200!

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