The top 30 players recruited in 30 years of the NAB League

Scott Pendlebury and Joel Selwood went at pick 5 and pick 7 in subsequent drafts. Both are modern greats. Who would you rank higher? See our top 30 NAB League recruits.

Joel Selwood in his days with the Bendigo Pioneers.

In a meeting room at Glenferrie Oval in 2001, there were three names on the whiteboard.

Hawthorn was tossing up who to take with pick 1 in the 2001 national draft, after securing the selection as part of a trade which sent Trent Croad and Luke McPharlin west to Fremantle.

There were three clear standouts in the draft pool – Luke Ball, Chris Judd and Luke Hodge.

Hawks coach Peter Schwab, football manager John Hook and the club’s recruiting staff were still weighing up the decision when they called another meeting.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE TOP 30 PLAYERS FROM THE NAB LEAGUE

Geelong Falcons talent manager Michael Turner and coach Damien Christensen were invited up the highway to vouch for the star player from their TAC Cup club – Hodge.

“We sold the story about Luke Hodge and in the end I asked Hawthorn, ‘What are you after in a footballer?’” Turner said.

“They said they wanted someone who could go into the midfield and get the ball out of the centre, who could go forward and kick goals and who could even go into defence and sure up the backline. I said, ‘If that’s what you want, I’m not sure Luke Ball or Juddy can do all those things, but I’m sure Luke Hodge can do it’.”

Plucked from the Hampden League after kicking six goals from centre-half forward for Colac as a 16-year-old, Hodge played in a premiership for the Falcons in 2000 before backing up with a dazzling 2001 campaign when he showed his versatility across the field.

Hawthorn’s decision to take Luke Hodge with pick 1 in the 2001 draft worked out OK. Picture: Michael Klein

Hawthorn eventually did bite the bullet and settled on selecting him at pick 1 in the 2001 ‘Super Draft’.

A former Geelong champion who played 245 senior games, Turner oversaw the “original Footy Factory” that was the Geelong Falcons for 26 years before retiring at the end of 2020.

The club has proudly produced nine AFL captains and three Brownlow Medal winners over the years.

“The one I rank as the best player I have seen at the Falcons was Luke Hodge,” Turner said.

Hodge was the first Falcons’ player to be drafted from the club’s 2001 team, but not the only one.

Jimmy Bartel, Matt Maguire, Nick Maxwell, Brent Moloney, Dom Gleeson, Luke Molan, Tom Davidson, Joel Reynolds and Sam Hunt all played alongside Hodge and went on to be drafted to the AFL.

The Falcons’ side that year also included a player named Gary Ablett Jr, who was snapped up by Geelong as a father-son at pick 40 in the 2001 national draft.

“Ablett played with us as a 15-year-old and he was very small,” Turner said.

“When the side was picked for the schoolboy’s competition, we had 25 players we could pick in Geelong and he was the last one picked. A lot of parents were quite critical of the fact he got in the squad because their kids had missed out and the thought was he got in because he was Gary Ablett’s son. But we knew he had the skills and it was just a matter of him maturing.

“We left him alone as a 16-year-old to mature a bit and he played out at Torquay and Modewarre. When he came back as a 17-year-old, he did a pre-season. Geelong had settled on drafting him after two practice games. He was a freakish talent.”

Gary Ablett Junior in action for the Geelong Falcons.

As the NAB League – formerly known as the TAC Cup – celebrates its 30th year this season, a star-studded list of the 30 best AFL players to be recruited from the competition has been assembled.

Of about 1500 AFL players to be produced by the competition, Ablett came out as No.1 and Judd as No.2 – six spots ahead of Hodge.

But 21 years on, Turner has no regrets about backing in Hodge as the No.1 draft pick to Hawthorn.

“There was a lot of pressure out of the blocks because Juddy became a really great AFL player right from the start,” he said.

“I’m not saying Hodgey caught Juddy, but as his career went on and he became captain and a four-time premiership player, he caught up.”

How the NAB League Top 30 players in 30 years was picked

Rankings were based on personal achievements at AFL level, with leadership qualities and team success also factored in.

Only players from Victorian-based NAB League clubs were considered and the Top 30 was an update to a Top 25 which was selected in 2017 for the competition’s 25th anniversary.

The selection panel consisted of Kevin Sheehan (AFL), Tarkyn Lockyer (AFL), Patrick Keane (AFL), Samuel Zito (AFL) and Chris Cavanagh (Herald Sun).

Originally published as The top 30 players recruited in 30 years of the NAB League