NORTH Melbourne's disastrous finish to the season will at least have a silver lining with the club now picking inside the top 10 at November's NAB AFL Draft.
The official finishing order released by the AFL this week has North in eighth position which will see them with pick No. 9 overall at the November 29 draft meeting.
A shock loss to Port Adelaide saw the Kangaroos slip from fourth to seventh at the end of the home and away season, and an elimination final loss to the Sydney Swans the following week left them in eighth position.
The Roos weren't the only club to shuffle spots in the lower half of the final eight after round 22, with the Crows' elimination final exit at the hands of Collingwood seeing them drop from fifth to seventh giving the Adelaide side the 10th pick overall.
The Swans and the Pies gave their fans hope with their first week finals victories, but their subsequent losses saw them move up to fifth and sixth place respectively but down the draft order with the Pies now picking eleventh and the Swans at No. 12.
With no priority picks awarded before the first round of this year's draft, the No. 1 pick goes to wooden spooner Melbourne with selections following reverse ladder order down to the ninth-placed Tigers, who will have the eighth call.
Picks 13 to 16 will be determined by the outcome of the preliminary finals and grand final.
The draft order will not be finalised until after the AFL player exchange period which runs from Monday, October 6 until 2pm on Friday, October 10, but it appears teams will be loathe to trade away first-round picks given the strength of the talent pool and the onset of two new teams.
2008 NAB AFL Draft selection order
1. Melbourne
2. West Coast Eagles
3. Fremantle
4. Port Adelaide
5. Essendon
6. Carlton
7. Brisbane Lions
8. Richmond
9. North Melbourne
10. Adelaide
11. Collingwood
12. Sydney Swans
