DID THE Hawks get it right after all when they selected Luke Hodge with the first pick at the 2001 'Superdraft'?

YES

Obviously it didn't look great for the first few years as Chris Judd (the third pick) dominated from the very start with West Coast and Luke Ball (second pick) became an immediate star with a very good St Kilda team, but if you look now at his overall body of work, Hodge has delivered all you could wish for from a No.1 draft pick.

Three premierships, including two as captain, two Norm Smith medals, two All Australians and two best and fairests tells only part of the story. 

Hodge is brave, fearless, highly-skilled and has a razor-sharp footy brain. Just look at his two goals in the second quarter of the 2014 Grand Final. He is Alastair Clarkson's eyes and ears on the ground – his leadership is worth a few goals each week for the Hawks.

Hodge has played some brilliant football for Hawthorn, although admittedly, not quite at the level of the best of Judd. Judd has struggled with injury of late and has started to wear down, perfectly understandable given how much wear and tear has been inflicted from all those years in the engine room of both West Coast and Carlton.

There were fears of a premature end for Hodge as well; he cut a forlorn figure at the end of the 2012 Grand Final - beaten, injured and swathed in a bloodied head bandage. But all that did was fuel the fire and he has been as fit as ever in the past two years and has played arguably his best football ever for the Hawks.

Whether Hodge (or Judd) is the best player of all out of that draft is debatable when you consider Gary Ablett was gifted to the Cats (with pick 40!) as a father-son selection. But what can now be said with certainty is that when the Hawks called out the name of Luke Hodge, they nailed the pick. - Ashley Browne

NO

It's almost getting to the splitting-hairs stage when it comes to choosing between Hodge and Judd, and it feels wrong to select one over the other because both are revered as all-time greats, and sensational role models and ambassadors for our game.

You'd be ecstatic to land either of them, and even in hindsight there is no wrong answer.

For what it's worth, I just think Judd has been a more consistently brilliant player, performing at a higher level for longer, and influencing more games – and indeed, winning more off his own boot.

And Judd did it from the outset with West Coast. An early signature moment came at just 19 when he bagged five first-half goals in a phenomenal display at the Gabba to upset the Brisbane Lions, who were on their way to a third successive flag in 2003.

From the moment Judd left West Coast at the end of 2007, he has played in far less talented teams than Hodge has had the good fortune to marshal. It's hardly Judd’s fault that he hasn't enjoyed further success at Carlton.

And he has amassed many more individual honours. Like Hodge, Judd also captained a premiership side (with the Eagles, following Ben Cousins' fall from grace) and won a Norm Smith Medal (in a losing side) along with, among other gongs, winning two Brownlow medals (and a runner-up), two AFLPA MVPs, five best and fairests (and five other top-three placings) and six All Australian selections.

As for who has been the better leader, from afar I'd suggest Hodge because he is a man of both action and words, whereas Judd prefers to let his actions do most of the talking. And if we were choosing between them now, due to Judd’s injuries, you'd have to lean towards Hodge.

But let's not forget that Judd at his best was unstoppable, irresistible. Until only recently Judd was comfortably clear of Hodge, but the gap – if indeed there is one – has shrunk considerably.

Agreed, Ablett is probably the best player of the 2001 'Superdraft', and a steal at pick 40, with two other remarkable bargains being Dane Swan at No.56 and Brian Lake at No.71.

It's a draft that, even 13 years later, keeps getting better. - Ben Collins