In the days leading up to the 2017 NAB AFL Draft, we'll be counting down Hawthorn's top 10 draft classes from the last 30 years, with one class revealed each day...
The 2004 National Draft class takes the cake as the Hawks’ ultimate crop of draftees.
With three picks inside the top ten, the pressure was well and truly on the Hawthorn recruiting team to deliver with this draft, and deliver they most certainly did, with the ’04 draftees raking in 11 premiership medallions, seven All-Australian awards and three Coleman Medals during their time in the brown and gold - not to mention an ongoing club captaincy.
Indeed, a strong argument could be made for 2001 being Hawthorn’s best draft year in history, but we’ve opted to prioritise the number of premiership medallions won by each class, with the 2004 squad pipping Hodge and Mitchell’s men by one. And, while the men of 01 have since moved on, 04’s influence in the brown and gold isn’t over yet, with one of its own currently leading the Hawks on their next premiership assault.
Highly rated Gippsland Power product Jarryd Roughead was secured with Pick 2 early in the 2004 draft.
Roughead quickly found his feat, landing a rising star nomination in his initial season, before producing his first 40-goal season just two years later.
A key pillar in the club’s 2008 premiership year at just 21-years-old, with 75 goals for the season, Roughead would go on to claim the 2013 Coleman Medal along with All-Australian honours in ’13 and ’14 as the Hawks triumphed with a premiership three-peat.
After missing the entirety of the 2016 season through illness, Roughead was anointed captain of the side, succeeding premiership skipper Luke Hodge.
Hawthorn’s second selection, number five overall, was then used to pluck athletic West Australian tall Lance Franklin.
Used up forward, Franklin played 20 games in his debut year before an incredible 2008 premiership-winning campaign saw him awarded the Coleman Medal after kicking 113 goals, along with All-Australian Honours and a club best and fairest.
Franklin would again be named All-Australian in consecutive years from 2010-2012, as a haul of 82 goals also saw him secure his second Coleman medal in 2011.
After playing in the losing 2012 grand final side, Franklin helped Hawthorn to the 2013 premiership before making a move to the Sydney Swans via free agency, finishing the fifth-highest goal kicker in the Hawks’ history.
Rounding out the Hawks’ picks inside the top 10 was left-footed midfielder Jordan Lewis, who, like fellow draftees Roughead and Franklin, received a rising star nomination in his first season after stepping straight into Hawthorn’s best side.
Lewis would win four premierships with the Hawks and was named in their best for the 2013 and 2014 grand final wins.
2014 also saw him claim the Peter Crimmins medal, as well as his first All-Australian selection.
At the end of 2016, Hawthorn fans watched Lewis play his 264th and final game in the brown and gold, before a surprise trade to Melbourne during the off-season.
Clinton Young was the fourth premiership player selected by the Hawks at the end of 2004, with the speedy wingman playing 116 games, including the 2008 grand final victory over Geelong, after being taken with the 18th pick in the Rookie Draft.
Thomas Murphy and Simon Taylor were also more than handy selections, with the pair playing 95 and 85 games respectively for the Hawks.
Pick 26, Matthew Little, would only manage one game in 2007, while remaining rookie draftees Ruory Kirkby, Thomas Willday and Kristian Height were unable to make their debuts.
Catch up: Draft class countdown - No.2
2004 NATIONAL DRAFT
PICK 2: JARRYD ROUGHEAD
PICK 5: LANCE FRANKLIN
PICK 7: JORDAN LEWIS
PICK 21: THOMAS MURPHY
PICK 26: MATTHEW LITTLE
PICK 53: SIMON TAYLOR
ROOKIE DRAFT
PICK 2: RUORY KIRKBY
PICK 18: CLINTON YOUNG
PICK 34: THOMAS WILLDAY
PICK 48: KRISTAN HEIGHT
