While Hawthorn is set to enter the upcoming draft with a top-10 selection for the third year in a row, that doesn't mean there's a lack of talent to be found further down the order either.
There have been plenty of brown and gold late-round success stories in recent draft history, with the likes of Sam Mitchell (Pick 36, 2000), Paul Puopolo (Pick 66, 2010) and Ben Stratton (Pick 46, 2009) proving incredibly valuable across the years.
Of the current crop, it’s hard to go past Luke Breust (Rookie Pick 47, 2009) who’ll go down as an all-time Hawthorn great, while James Sicily (Pick 56, 2013) and Blake Hardwick (Pick 44, 2015) have developed into top-line defenders.
Meanwhile, Dylan Moore (Pick 67, 2017) has risen to new heights this year, while Mitch Lewis – who was taken as the second last pick in his draft year (Pick 76, 2016) – has emerged as a star of the future.
As the excitement builds surrounding Hawthorn's first-round selection (Pick 6), there is still plenty of scope for some additional talent with the club also currently holding picks 24, 41, 48, 50, 52 and 63.
So in anticipation for next week’s draft, we’ve casted our eyes over every draft during the 2000's - whether it be national, pre-season, rookie or mid-season - to find Hawthorn’s best smokey.
|
YEAR |
PICK |
PLAYER |
GAMES |
ACHIEVEMENTS |
|
2001 |
36 |
Sam Mitchell |
307 |
4× AFL premiership player: 2008, 2013-15 Brownlow Medal: 2012 3× All Australian team: 2011, 2013, 2015 Hawthorn captain: 2008–2010 5× Peter Crimmins Medal: 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2016 AFL Rising Star: 2003 |
|
2001 |
32 |
Campbell Brown |
159 |
AFL premiership player: 2008 All Australian team: 2007 |
|
2002 |
7 (Rookie draft) |
Brad Sewell |
200 |
2× AFL premiership player: 2008, 2013 Peter Crimmins Medal: 2007 |
|
2004 |
18 (Rookie draft) |
Clinton Young |
116 |
AFL premiership player: 2008 |
|
2005 |
3 (Pre-season draft) |
Brent Guerra |
159 |
2× AFL premiership player: 2008, 2013 |
|
2006 |
22 (Rookie draft) |
Matt Suckling |
102 |
2× AFL premiership player: 2014, 2015 |
|
2008 |
34 |
Liam Shiels |
255 |
3× AFL premiership player: 2013-2015 |
|
2008 |
47 (Rookie draft) |
Luke Breust |
260 |
3× AFL premiership player: 2013–2015 2× All Australian team: 2014, 2018 4× Hawthorn leading goalkicker: 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 2× 22under22 team: 2012, 2013 |
|
2009 |
46 |
Ben Stratton |
202 |
3× AFL premiership player: 2013–2015 Hawthorn captain: 2019–2020 |
|
2009 |
69 |
Taylor Duryea |
118 |
2× AFL premiership player: 2014, 2015 |
|
2010 |
66 |
Paul Puopolo |
196 |
2011 Hawthorn best first-year player 3× AFL premiership player: 2013-2015 |
|
2011 |
33 |
Brad Hill |
95 |
3× AFL premiership player: 2013–2015 |
|
2013 |
56 |
James Sicily |
115 |
Peter Crimmins Medal: 2022 |
|
2015 |
44 |
Blake Hardwick
|
124 |
Club's Most Promising Player: 2018 Club's Most Courageous: 2022 |
|
2016 |
74 |
Harry Morrison |
78 |
|
|
2016 |
76 |
Mitch Lewis |
51 |
Club's Most Promising: 2019 Club's Most Improved: 2022 |
|
2017 |
45 |
James Worpel |
79 |
Peter Crimmins Medal: 2019 |
|
2017 |
67 |
Dylan Moore |
52 |
3rd place Peter Crimmins Medal: 2022 Club's best clubman: 2022 |
|
2021 |
2 (Mid-season draft) |
Jai Newcombe |
29 |
AFLCA Best Young Player: 2022 Runner-up Peter Crimmins Medal: 2022 |
