Fremantle must be favourites to be the big winner when we look back at this draft some time in the early 2030s, assuming Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un don't combine to destroy the world before then.
There had been much to-ing and fro-ing from pundits about which of the Victorian midfield triumvirate - Andy Brayshaw, Adam Cerra and Luke Davies-Uniacke - the Dockers would select with prized picks two and five.
Brayshaw had been the outsider for pick two in the days leading up to the draft. But as North Melbourne national recruiting manager Mark Finnigan later suggested, there was little between the first five or six players in this group, so it should not have been surprising that the Dockers took Brayshaw at No.2 before adding Cerra three picks later.
Fremantle's media release sent out hours after the draft bragged of their pair of "elite midfielders". At least outwardly, the Dockers are chuffed they stuck to their guns in trade negotiations with Gold Coast over Lachie Weller, the deal which earned Fremantle a second top-five selection.
The evenness of the rest of the draft becomes apparent when looking at the circumstances surrounding the very next pick. Collingwood took Jaidyn Stephenson at No.6, but insist Nathan Murphy would have been the next best thing for them at that spot. If the standard in this draft was easily discernible, he should have been long gone by the time Collingwood were next "on the clock" at pick 39. But there he was, overlooked by most of the rest, still available at the start of the third round.
Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but this was extreme. This was a draft class you could throw a blanket over.
St Kilda had picks seven and eight. They took Hunter Clark and Nick Coffield, one a defender who has turned into a midfielder, the other a versatile tall who has also spent some time through the middle and could probably end up there if he can improve his endurance.
St Kilda's recruiting chief Tony Elshaug extolled the pair's virtues after the draft. "We think the two boys at the top complement each other. They also complement our list," Elshaug told The Age.
The Saints ended up with seven as part of the pick swap that helped get Hawthorn Jaeger O'Meara last year. When the Hawks floundered at the start of 2017, the Saints were firming for one of those top-five picks, which would have made for daylight robbery come draft time.
St Kilda's pair of top-10 selections Hunter Clark (left) and Nicholas Coffield. Photo: AAP
It'd be no great surprise if both Coffield and Clark turned out to be very serviceable players, or better, for the Saints. But in a draft of rare evenness, is either a knockout blow? St Kilda explored trade options around picks seven and eight, and there was a sense the Saints were hoping one of Friday night's first six players taken would be a punt on South Australian forward Darcy Fogarty (who ended up at Adelaide at No.12). That would have meant one of the top half-dozen ended up at the Saints. It wasn't to be.
Not that Elshaug had any regrets. "What we've done is what we've done. We haven't looked back and thought we wish we did it differently," he said.
So Fremantle won the draft then? And it was a case of "so close but so far" for St Kilda? Maybe, but try me again in 15 years. Yes, it looks a like it now, but there are countless examples which show the inherent folly in analysing a draft in its immediate aftermath. As Blues list manager Stephen Silvagni noted when asked about the prospect of No.3 pick Paddy Dow playing senior football next year, it could well happen, but it's far from the be-all and end-all.
It's a marathon, not a sprint.
