Steals of the draft: The 20 best value picks from the past 20 years

Lachie Neale has not only been a headache for Melbourne because of his skill as an opponent, but also due to the regrets inside the Dees. Here are the top 20 draft steals.

Every AFL recruiter dreams of landing one.

It‘s the player who has dramatically slipped down the draft into their hands or the speculative pick who suddenly grows another leg and becomes a champion.

History shows when you look back at the best 20 value picks over the past 20 years that some of the game‘s greats were available in the draft after every club had at least one selection, sometimes two or three, opportunities to take them.

The two players at the top of the rankings have four Brownlow Medals between them. Lachie Neale was too small for most clubs while after a tip-off the Dockers tracked Nat Fyfe and convinced themselves he was a potential star even though their coach at the time needed convincing.

There are plenty of examples where a club‘s determination to stick to a strategy of needs - committing to a tall or a midifelder - at a certain pick has cost them the best player.

Melbourne loved Neale and had two third-round picks before he was taken by Fremantle at No.48 but went with a need - a delisted tall defender - rather than their gut.

On the flip side Essendon‘s recruiting boss Adrian Didoro famously made a last-minute decision to switch from Rory Lobb to Zach Merrett after urging from his then coach Mark Thompson to go with his gut not the strategy.

(*The best 20 list doesn‘t include first-round picks from 20 and below as it focuses on players drafted after every club at least had one opportunity to take them. It also doesn’t include father-son selections or zone/academy selections).

Originally published as Steals of the draft: The 20 best value picks from the past 20 years