NEVER before has a club been given as much of a head start at the NAB AFL Draft table as the Gold Coast Suns.
List manager Scott Clayton is beautifully positioned ahead of November 18, however it's wrong to think Gold Coast will simply march to September riches in the coming years.
Yes, the Suns already have a strong batch of 17-year-olds, Gary Ablett headlines their uncontracted players and they have a stack of picks in a fortnight's time.
But that won't guarantee them success.
The same will go for Team GWS this time next year, with that club already aiming to replicate what the Suns have achieved in the last 12 months.
Picks 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 38 and 48 in this draft will ensure more prime talent heads Gold Coast's way, but by 2015 the club will be on par with each of its rivals in terms of list size and salary cap.
If the kids at the AFL's 17th club are as good as some believe they may be, in a few years the Suns - and GWS after them - could feel the pinch of the salary cap.
Those clubs will also be wary of the 'go home' factor of their recruits; the bulk of which will come from southern states.
What could that mean then?
Given the compromised drafts, it's not a great time to be a struggling club and that puts some extra heat on recruiters around the country.
We know that this is a strong pool and that quality youngsters will be available even after Gold Coast makes its key selections.
A combination of luck and insight should make things happen.
This year's premier, Collingwood, has shown that a sequence of high draft selections isn't necessarily needed to reach football's summit.
Sure, the Pies have had a share of premium picks, with Dale Thomas and Scott Pendlebury at the top of the list.
But look a little deeper and you'll see it takes all sorts to piece together a champion team.
Skipper Nick Maxwell and Harry O'Brien, All Australians and perhaps the cornerstones of the Pies' defence, both worked their way off the club's rookie list.
Ditto for Alan Toovey, Sharrod Wellingham and Jarryd Blair, who was playing in the VFL midway through the year.
Dane Swan, the man deemed 'untaggable' by some opposition coaches this season, was a bargain basement selection at pick 58 back in 2001.
That was the stellar draft that yielded Luke Hodge, Luke Ball and Chris Judd with the top three picks, although Ball left St Kilda last year, re-entered the draft and found his way to the Pies as a second-round selection.
Who knows if we'll look back at the 2010 draft as one of studs or duds?
Once the Suns have had their first big crack, it's up to 16 other clubs to find the best of what's left.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
Follow our complete coverage of the 2010 NAB AFL Draft on November 18. Join the AFL draft conversation on Twitter: use #AFLdraft in your tweets.
