Joel Selwood clear No.1 talent from 2006 draft, Bryce Gibbs slides, rookies surprise

VOTE: A KNEE injury saw Joel Selwood slide on draft night 2006 but 10 years on he is the clear No.1 as several rookies have gone on to make recruiters look silly.

Joel Selwood and Bryce Gibbs were both drafted in 2006. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

AS clear a No.1 pick as Bryce Gibbs was in 2006, Joel Selwood is today.

While Selwood - now the Geelong captain and triple-premiership player - slide down the draft board due to injury, he has become the standout talent 10 years on.

That’s not a knock on Carlton and Gibbs, the midfielder is still a top 10 talent in our revised draft order but Selwood’s resume is peerless.

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Hawthorn’s decision to overlook Selwood and pick Mitch Thorp at pick No.6 will go down as one of the most famous “what could have-beens” in draft history.

The Tasmanian played two games.

And it doesn’t get any prettier for Essendon and North Melbourne who selected Scott Gumbleton and Lachie Hansen at picks No.2 and 3 respectively.

The 2006 draft top three picks (from left) Lachlan Hansen, Scott Gumbleton and Bryce Gibbs.

Admittedly, both were/have been cruelled by injury with Gumbleton playing 35 before being delisted while Hansen remains on the Kangaroos list with 133 games to his name.

While Selwood was still a top 10 draft pick, our revised draft shows there was plenty of elite talent overlooked until much later.

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North Melbourne ruckman Todd Goldstein has developed into the premier bigman in the AFL and is at No.2 10 years on after being taken with pick 37.

He edges out Sydney superstar Josh Kennedy, who was a Hawthorn father-son pick at No.40 in 2006 before being traded to the Swans in 2009.

THE 2006 AFL DRAFT REVISITED

Original 2006 AFL Draft (Club)	Revised 2006 AFL Draft (Club, original pick)
Bryce Gibbs (Carlton)	Joel Selwood (Geelong, 7)
Scott Gumbleton (Essendon)	Todd Goldstein (Nth Melb, 37)
Lachie Hansen (Nth Melb)	Josh Kennedy (Haw/Syd, 40 FS)
Matthew Leuenberger (Brisbane)	Robbie Gray (Port Adel, 55)
Travis Boak (Port Adel)	Jack Riewoldt (Richmond, 13)
Mitch Thorp (Hawthorn)	Bryce Gibbs (Carlton, 1)
Joel Selwood (Geelong)	Tom Hawkins (Geelong, 41 FS)
Ben Reid (Collingwood)	Nick Smith (Sydney, R15)
David Armitage (St Kilda)	Sam Jacobs (Carl/Adel, R1)
Nathan Brown (Collingwood)	Travis Boak (Port Adel, 5)

UNLUCKY: David Armitage (St Kilda, 9), Justin Westhoff (Port Adel, 71), Kurt Tippett (Adelaide, 32), Jarryn Geary (St Kilda, R58) and Eric Mackenzie (29)

Kennedy has a premiership to his name in 2012, three Bob Skilton Medals and three All-Australian guernseys.

Port Adelaide star Robbie Gray cracks the top five after originally having to wait until pick No.55 in 2006.

Gray has become the Power’s main attacking weapon, not to mention a SuperCoach favourite.

Richmond’s two-time Coleman Medallist Jack Riewoldt is at No.6 followed by Geelong father-son selection Tom Hawkins, former rookies Nick Smith and Sam Jacobs and Power captain Travis Boak.

Josh Kennedy started his career as a Hawk.

Sam Jacobs started his career in navy blue.

The rise of Smith and Jacobs in particular is just more evidence of the need for the rookie list.

Sydney plucked Smith at pick No.15 in the rookie draft and he has developed into arguably the AFL’s best shutdown small defender while Jacobs, originally taken by Carlton at pick No.1 in the rookie draft is now a standout ruckman at Adelaide.

In all, 11 rookies taken in 2006 are still on an AFL list; Jacobs (pick No.1), Sharrod Wellingham (10), Smith (15), Michael Jamison (17), Matthew Suckling (22), Brent Macaffer (26), Jarrod Harbrow (27), Sam Gibson (37), Tom Lonergan (50), Joel Tippett (57) and Jarryn Geary (58).

St Kilda midfielder David Armitage was picked at No.9 in 2006 and can count himself unlucky, edged out of the revised top 10 by Boak while Geary, one of the last players taken in the rookie draft - could be the Saints’ next captain.

Justin Westhoff has proved himself an excellent versatile tall, Eric Mackenzie won the West Coast best-and-fairest in 2014 while Kurt Tippett started life as a Crow before his big money move to Sydney in 2012 where he won the Swans’ goalkicking award in 2013 and played in the losing 2016 Grand Final.

Joel Selwood in action for Geelong.

Todd Goldstein in action for North Melbourne. Picture: Tom Huntley

2006 DRAFT CLASS (2016 listed players in bold)

ADELAIDE CROWS

14 James Sellar, 32 Kurt Tippett, 48 David Mackay, 64 Nick Gill, 78 Bryce Campbell, R14 Andrew McIntyre, R29 James Turner, R43 Rhys Archard, R54 Greg Gallman

BRISBANE LIONS

4 Matthew Leuenberger, 22 Albert Proud, 34 Chris Schmidt, 38 James Hawksley, 54 Matt Tyler, 70 Sam Sheldon, R4 Anthony Corrie, R20 Scott Clouston, R35 Daniel Dzufer, R48 Haydyn Kiel, R57 Joel Tippett, R61 Will Hamill

CARLTON

1 Bryce Gibbs, 17 Shaun Hampson, 19 Shaun Grigg, 35 Mark Austin, 51 Clint Benjamin, 67 Joe Anderson, PS1 Cain Ackland, PS9 Cameron Cloke, R1 Sam Jacobs, R17 Michael Jamison, R32 Ross Young

COLLINGWOOD

8 Ben Reid, 10 Nathan Brown, 28 Chris Dawes, 44 Brad Dick, 63 Tyson Goldsack, PS8 Chris Bryan, R10 Sharrod Wellingham, R26 Brent Macaffer, R40 Martin Clarke

ESSENDON

2 Scott Gumbleton, 18 Leroy Jetta, 20 Tom Hislop, 36 Alwyn Davey, 42 Bachar Houli, 47 Kyle Reimers, PS2 Mal Michael, R2 Dean Dick, R18 Danny Chartres, R33 Adam Ramanauskas

FREMANTLE

31 Clayton Collard, 52 Brock O’Brien, 77 Calib Mourish, R13 Chris Smith, R28 Andrew Foster, R42 Darren Rumble, R53 Benet Copping

GEELONG

7 Joel Selwood, 25 Nathan Djerrkura, 41 (FS) Tom Hawkins, 57 Simon Hogan, R7 Joel Reynolds, R23 Liam Bedford, R38 Jason Davenport, R50 Tom Lonergan

HAWTHORN

6 Mitchell Thorp, 24 Brent Renouf, 33 Jarryd Morton, 40 (FS) Josh Kennedy, 56 Garry Moss, PS5 Josh Thurgood, R6 Brett Collins, R22 Matthew Suckling, R37 Sam Gibson

MELBOURNE

12 James Frawley, 30 Ricky Petterd, 46 Colin Garland, 62 Isaac Weetra, R12 Daniel Hayes

NORTH MELBOURNE

3 Lachlan Hansen, 21 Gavin Urquhart, 37 Todd Goldstein, 53 Lindsay Thomas, 69 Ben Warren, 82 Aaron Edwards, PS3 Ben Ross, R3 Leigh Adams, R19 Ben Hughes, R34 Matt Campbell, R47 Tim Hutchison

PORT ADELAIDE

5 Travis Boak, 23 Paul Stewart, 39 Nathan Krakouer, 55 Robbie Gray, 71 Justin Westhoff, 83 Ryan Williams, 86 David Rodan, PS4 Adam Cockshell, R5 Alex Lee, R21 Gavin Grose, R36 Nathan Batsanis, R49 Peter Hardy

RICHMOND

13 Jack Riewoldt, 26 Shane Edwards, 58 Daniel Connors, 60 Carl Peterson, 73 Andrew Collins, PS6 Kent Kingsley, R8 Tasman Clingan, R24 Jake King

ST KILDA

9 David Armitage, 27 Brad Howard, 59 Jarryd Allen, 74 Matthew Ferguson, PS7 Matthew Clarke, R9 Clinton Jones, R25 Luke van Rheenen, R39 Robert Eddy, R51 James Wall, R58 Jarryn Geary, R62 Jayden Attard

SYDNEY SWANS

15 Daniel O’Keefe, 49 Daniel Currie, 65 Peter Faulks, 79 Jesse White, R15 Nick Smith, R30 Matthew O’Dwyer, R44 Luke Brennan, R55 Matthew Davis, R59 Earl Shaw

WEST COAST EAGLES

16 Mitch Brown, 29 Eric MacKenzie, 43 Tim Houlihan, 50 Will Schofield, 80 James Thomson, R16 Jamie McNamara, R31 Llane Spaanderman, R45 Chad Jones, R56 Ben Sharp, R60 Ashley Thornton, R64 Beau Wilkes

WESTERN BULLDOGS

11 Andrejs Everitt, 45 Brennan Stack, 61 Josh Hill, 66 Malcolm Lynch, 76 Paul O’Shea, R11 Gavin Hughes, R27 Jarrod Harbrow, R41 Marty Pask, R52 Michael West

Originally published as Joel Selwood clear No.1 talent from 2006 draft, Bryce Gibbs slides, rookies surprise