Dustin Martin and Nat Fyfe: Two superstars and future Hall-Of-Famers jostling for the No.1 spot in Footyology’s revised 2009 AFL draft rankings.

The revised 2009 AFL draft top two has all the hallmarks of 2001’s revised top two.

Two future Hall of Famers jostling for top spot just like Gary Ablett junior and Chris Judd eight years before them.

But like always, there can only be one No.1, and as Ablett edged out Judd in 2001, Richmond superstar Dustin Martin takes the cake from Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe in 2009.

In the last couple of years, Martin has elevated himself into rarefied air. He is now arguably the best player in the competition, and his 2017 season, in particular, will go down in history as one of the most remarkable individual years ever produced.

In fact, Leigh Matthews, widely-regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, described Martin’s 2017 campaign as the best season any player had ever put together.

Last year Martin became the first player to win the Brownlow Medal (with a record 36 votes and a record 11 best-on-grounds), Norm Smith Medal, premiership medal, AFLCA award, AFLPA MVP and Gary Ayres Award (for best finals player) in the same season.

The 27-year-old is now the most dominant force in the AFL and, with three All-Australians and two best-and-fairests to his credit as well, he is building up quite the resume.

Fyfe, who incredibly slipped down to pick 20 in the 2009 draft, isn’t too far behind Martin. The two-time All-Australian is one of the most eye-catching players in the competition.

More than capable of winning his own ball as one of the game’s premier contested beasts, Fyfe’s magnificent skills, athleticism, superb leap, marking capabilities and ability to set up dangerous play make him as close to the complete package as you could want.

Like Martin, Fyfe is virtually unstoppable once he gets his tail up and opposition teams just have to pray that the damage he causes is manageable.

Also a Brownlow Medallist (who could ever forget his unprecedented start to the 2015 season when he racked up nine three-voters in the first 14 rounds?) Fyfe is a two-time All-Australian, AFLPA MVP and best-and-fairest winner as well.

Coming in at No.3 is Hawthorn sharpshooter Jack Gunstson, who gets a nice upgrade from 29.

Originally drafted by Adelaide, Gunston has made a name for himself at the Hawks as one of the competition’s deadliest of dead-eye dicks in front of goal. His career accuracy rate of 64.5 percent across 172 games is mind-boggling, and with 341 majors to his credit at the age of 27, the 500-goal mark is well within his reach.

Gunston has also proven to be quite versatile in recent years, playing an effective role in defence when called upon. A member of Hawthorn’s famous “three-peat” premiership teams, he is an All-Australian and two-time Hawthorn leading goalkicker.

If there’s one player that has any chance of breaking into the top two, it’s Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn.

Originally taken at pick 34, Gawn has been promoted 30 spots up to No.4. It took the big Demon a while to finally get going, but since 2016 he has been absolutely sensational, picking up a pair of All-Australians and almost single-handedly reinforcing the importance of a dominant big man when the role of the ruckman appeared to be under threat across the competition.

Gawn produced the best year of his career to date in 2018, racking up a VFL/AFL record 1119 hit-outs at an average of 45 a game, and also collecting 20 Brownlow Medal votes to finish equal fourth.

After nine years, star North Melbourne inside midfielder Ben Cunnington remains at No.5. One of the toughest and most dependable contested players in the game, he almost always does what is asked of him and coach Brad Scott would love him for that.

A best-and-fairest winner in 2014, Cunnington broke the all-time record for contested possessions in a game this year when he collected 32 against Richmond. He averages 21 disposals, 12 contested possessions and five tackles over his 187-game career. Not bad going at all.

Triple premiership Hawthorn defender Ben Stratton makes a big leap from 46 to six, dual All-Australian Adelaide backman Daniel Talia jumps from 13 to seven and ever-dependable Geelong midfielder Mitch Duncan gets promoted from 28 to eight.

Tom Scully drops from one to nine while Geelong defender Zach Tuohy is the biggest bargain of the draft as he was originally taken at pick 73 in the rookie draft by Carlton (essentially pick 175) but now finds himself in the top 10. Yes, his original pick number was inflated because he was an international rookie, but he has been a model of consistency both at the Blues and Cats.

Some other great bargains at this draft that were terribly unlucky to miss out on the top 10 were Michael Barlow, who was taken at pick eight in the rookie draft, and Dylan Grimes at pick two in the pre-season draft.

Brad Sheppard, Jake Carlisle, Jamie Macmillan, Lewis Jetta, Jake Melksham, Dan Menzel, David Astbury, Dylan Roberton, Josh Thomas, Mark Hutchings, Nathan Vardy, Sydney’s Sam Reid and Taylor Duryea were also stiff to be overlooked, but there’s still plenty of time for them, and Grimes, to make their case for entry, or re-entry, into the top 10 over the coming years.

Martin, Cunnington and Scully are the only players to retain their spots in the top 10 at this stage.