Having traded their first and second round selections, the Hawks will make their first pick at 39, nine later than the previous record of pick 30 made way back in 1990. The player Hawthorn chose with that 1990 selection was Matthew Young, who went onto play 21 games for Hawthorn, and then a further 97 at St Kilda.
The reason the Hawks had such a late first selection in 1990 was that they had traded selection 10 to Brisbane in exchange for Darren Jarman, who had been drafted by the Bears two years earlier, but had remained in the SANFL.
Despite not having finished on the bottom of the ladder since the National Draft started in 1986, Hawthorn has twice secured the number one selection in the National Draft.
In 1988, Hawthorn received the number one pick from St Kilda in exchange for Paul Harding, Peter Russo, and Robert Handley, who played 62, 33 and 4 games respectively at the Saints. The Hawks used the number one pick on Alex McDonald who played 46 games over six seasons, 1990-95, and then a further 61 matches at Collingwood.
In 2001, Hawthorn traded Trent Croad and Luke McPharlin to Fremantle for picks 1, 20 and 36. Not only did Hawthorn secure champions in Luke Hodge and Sam Mitchell with choices 1 and 36, in a great piece of business, also managed to secure the return of Croad two seasons later at the cost of pick 10.
Hawthorn made a stunningly good selection in the first National Draft when it chose Darrin Pritchard with pick 26. Pritchard played 211 games for the Hawks, and was a member of the 1988, 1989 and 1991 Premiership teams. Of the Hawks other four selections in that inaugural Draft, only one, Tony Symonds, played Senior football.
Interestingly four players drafted by other clubs in that inaugural National Draft ended up in the brown and gold - Jason Taylor (drafted by Fitzroy), Simon Minton-Connell (Carlton), Darren Jarman (Melbourne) and Greg Whittlesea (Richmond).
The 2008 Premiership team contained 15 players who came via the National Draft, five Rookie Draft Elevations (Campbell, Osborne, Sewell, Young, and Gilham), one Trade (Croad) and one player taken in the Pre-Season Draft (Guerra). The National Draft selections ranged from Luke Hodge taken at number 1, to Chance Bateman taken at pick 48.
The first five National Drafts did not include metropolitan Melbourne, as metropolitan zones and the Under 19 competition continued until 1991. The Hawks were obviously sceptical about the standard of the new Under 18 competition in 1992 as they did not draft a single player from it, instead taking four from the SANFL, one from the WAFL, one from NSW and one from a private school. The first draftees from the Victorian Under 18 competition came the following year, with Angelo Lekkas and Shannon Gibson taken from the Northern Knights 1993 Premiership team, and Rayden Tallis from Eastern Ranges.
Ten players have made the Hawthorn Senior team in Round 1 of the season immediately after their initial drafting. Those that have were Tony Symonds (1987), Daniel Chick (1996), Trent Croad (1998), Kris Barlow (1999), Michael Collica (1999), Adrian Cox (1999), Lance Franklin (2005), Grant Birchall (2006), Cyril Rioli (2008) and Ryan Schoenmakers (2009).
At the other extreme, three players have not debuted until the fourth season after their drafting.
Ironically, the 1998 National Draft, which produced three Round 1 1999 debutants, also produced the longest wait for a debut.
David Loats, taken with selection 51 in the 1998 Draft, did not make his debut until Round 12, 2002, when he was part of an undermanned Hawthorn team which lost narrowly to Essendon at the MCG. Loats played another two games in 2002, followed by eight in 2003. A move to Geelong in 2004 saw him chalk up one more AFL game.
In 2009, Beau Muston went close to breaking the record for longest gap for a Hawthorn player between drafting and his Senior debut. Muston, who was taken at pick 22 in the 2005 National Draft, made an outstanding debut against Melbourne nine rounds into his fourth season on the Hawthorn list.
The third player to debut in his fourth season was Matthew Young who, as noted earlier in the column, was taken with pick 30 in the 1990 Draft. He did not make his debut until Round 8, 1994, a game which saw Hawthorn thrash Brisbane by 99 points at Waverley.
A number of other players have made their Hawthorn debuts in the third season after their initial drafting, including Scott Crow, Simon Crawshay, Jonathon Robran, Angelo Lekkas, Brad Scott, Ben Dixon, Tim Boyle and Matthew Little.
In an odd quirk, the picks that Hawthorn has had between 57 and 76 in the National Draft have never produced a 100 gamer, yet the picks between 77 and 96 have produced a remarkable five 100 gamers (including one 200 game player) - Ben Dixon, Richie Vandenberg, Nathan Thompson, Kris Barlow and Jade Rawlings.
Rawlings, taken with selection 94 in the 1994 Draft, is the latest ever Hawthorn pick in the National Draft to represent the club in a Senior game.
When Shane Savage made his debut in Round 20, 2009, he became the latest pick to debut for Hawthorn since the players taken at picks 77 and 86 in the 1998 Draft, Adrian Cox and Kris Barlow, both debuted in Round 1, 1999.
The first Rookie Draft was held over the summer of 1996-97, with the sole player taken by the Hawks being Brad Campbell, before they passed on a further five selections. In more recent years, Hawthorn has made far more judicious use of the Rookie Draft, with eleven rookie elevations (10 individuals) to the Senior list, including five members of the 2008 Premiership team.
Overall, in the 23 National Drafts from 1986 to 2008, the Hawks have had the opportunity to make 141 selections, but having passed on four, have actually made 137. Of those, 81 have produced at least one Senior game.
The only selections Hawthorn has not had in the top 50 are 4, 9, 27, 31, 46 and 49. On the other hand, the Hawks have had six selections at number 51, four of whom (Kane Fraser, David Loats, Tim Boyle and Matthew Ball) have played Senior football.
