Can Adelaide break the chain and win this year’s flag without a top-10 draft pick?

FOR Adelaide to claim this year’s AFL premiership it will have to do what no other club has done for 18 years — win the flag without a top-10 draft pick. Replay Andrew Capel’s blog here.

The Crows snapped up Rory Sloane at pick 44 in 2008.

FOR Adelaide to claim this year’s AFL premiership it will have to do what no other club has done for 18 years — win the flag without a top-10 draft pick.

Remarkably, the fifth-placed Crows — third favourite behind Hawthorn and Geelong for the flag — do not have one top-10 national draft selection on their 2016 senior list.

Not since Adelaide won the 1998 premiership — its second in a row under master coach Malcolm Blight — has a club won a flag without a top-10 pick, either one of its own selections or a top-10 player obtained from another club.

Star midfielder Patrick Dangerfield’s departure to Geelong at the end of last season has left the Crows, who drafted him at No. 10 from Victorian TAC Cup side Geelong Falcons in 2007, as the only club this year to not have one top-10 pick on its list.

The next fewest at any club is three — at Fremantle and Brisbane, who sit a lowly 16th and 17th on the ladder respectively.

In contrast, upstart GWS — flying high in second spot — has 16 top-10 picks after being granted concessional selections in its inaugural draft in 2011.

Adelaide will have to defy recent history to win this year’s premiership.

The past 10 premiers have had an average of six top-10 draft picks on their list.

Collingwood had the most with 10 in 2010.

Sydney had the fewest with three in 2012.

Mitch McGovern was pick 43 in 2014. Tom Huntley

In the past three years, Hawthorn has won the flag with between five and six top-10 selections.

Denied their top-two draft picks in 2012 and 2013 over the Kurt Tippett salary cap breach, the Crows’ highest drafted players are former Blue Troy Menzel and first-year player Wayne Milera.

Forward Menzel was selected by Carlton at No. 11 in 2012 before being traded to Adelaide in last year’s exchange period.

Milera was Adelaide’s first pick (No. 11 overall) at last year’s draft.

The Crows’ success this year — they have won 13 of 18 matches, including nine of their past 10 — is a testament to their talent spotting, drafting, list management and astute trading.

This is a club that has lost stars Dangerfield, Tippett (to Sydney), Jack Gunston (Hawthorn), Phil Davis (GWS) and Nathan Bock (Gold Coast) since the end of 2010 but rebounded to finish sixth last year and be in strong premiership contention this year.

National recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie, head of football David Noble and list manager Justin Reid have good reason to puff out their chests.

So do the Crows’ senior and development coaches for the way they have helped turn low draft picks into high quality players.

Rory Atkins escapes Shane Mumford. (Photo by Morne de Klerk/Getty Images)

Adelaide, which secured cult figure Eddie Betts as a free agent from Carlton at the end of 2013, has the equal-most 30-plus draft picks on its 2016 list, along with Sydney.

Its draft success stories include Brownlow Medal contender Rory Sloane, who was selected at pick 44 in 2008, Rory Atkins (81 in 2012), Mitch McGovern (43 in 2014) and Jarryd Lyons (61 in 2010).

Lead ruckman Sam Jacobs, star midfielder Scott Thompson and gun forwards Josh Jenkins and Tom Lynch were acquired in trades.

Rory Laird, Charlie Cameron, Kyle Hartigan and Ricky Henderson were gems found in the rookie draft.

“It’s a great credit to the club’s list management group, recruiters and development coaches,’’ former Crow Brent Reilly said of Adelaide’s ability to find so many diamonds in the rough.

“I know first-hand that the development down at the club is fantastic, (development manager) Heath Younie’s leading the way there, and David Noble has done a lot of work behind the scenes in creating a system where the club is able to get the right player at the right time to fit team needs.’’

It could result in an against-the-odds premiership.

Number Crunch.

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