SEN’s Andrew Hayes and Bryce Gibbs have counted down their top five number one draft picks to change teams.
With Jason Horne-Francis becoming the most recent member to join this exclusive club - moving from North Melbourne to Port Adelaide - Hayes and Gibbs - a former number one pick himself - went back through history to look at the most intriguing storylines that saw top picks leave their first clubs.
Speaking on SEN Saturdays in SA, the pair also listed three honourable mentions that didn’t quite make their top five, acknowledging Jack Watts, Brett Deledio and Tom Scully.
See Hayes and Gibbs’ list below:
5. Brendan Goddard
Gibbs: “Obviously had a fantastic career at both clubs… he played 334 games in total, 129 for them at Essendon, became a best and fairest… he was captain for a year in there as well, I think he’s a good one to start this list,” he said.
Hayes: “He had a very good career at Essendon, like you said 129 games, the thing about that is, and you just wonder, hindsight’s obviously a beautiful thing, there’s no way he’s going to Essendon knowing what was about to unfold with the supplement saga… he walked into an absolute you-know-what fest.
“The way he could kick the ball, the confidence he had with kicking the ball, he was a textbook playmaker.”
Gibbs: “I had to tag him in the couple year period where I was playing for Carlton under (Brett Ratten), I’d do some tagging job against teams and he was one of them against St Kilda every time… he was always angry, I used to try and pinch him and get under him knowing that five minutes into the game he’d be trying to turn around and belt you.”
“He had a pretty good role in that St Kilda side, wherever he thought he was going to win back the game, he had the license to put himself there… I sort of had to follow him round wherever, and him being such a damaging player, whatever position he played in made him super dangerous.”
4. Paddy McCartin
Hayes: “Sydney Swans of course, number one pick for the Saints back in the day, all sorts of issues with concussion, to the point where he can’t make a comeback, he’s got to think about the rest of his life.
“Sydney throw him a bone to the point where that’s like ‘see if you can come up and play some games in our side in the NEAFL’… he impresses that much that he gets thrown a lifeline and now, even though the Swans lost in the Grand Final, he is one of the absolute success and feel good stories in 2022.”
Gibbs: “Him and his brother, just waxing centre-half back, full back and just getting it done… it looked like he was never going to get back, I think it was even reported that he couldn’t go to cafes because of the noise, (it) would affect his brain.”
“It’s such a great story and a really good football story and good for Paddy, he is a good bloke, a good man and to see him finally get some continuity and not have any issues with his head, concussions, it’s been fantastic to see.”
3. Nathan Buckley
Hayes: “With Jason Horne-Francis switching from North Melbourne to Port Adelaide… look back at this in five years’ time and compare it to what happened with Nathan Buckley, I reckon a lot of people wouldn’t even realise that Nathan Buckley started his career at Brisbane.”
Gibbs: “No you wouldn’t and this could be a very similar storyline in the making. So Bucks, drafted to the Brisbane Bears, as they were back then through the NT state zone, in a deal that would allow him to go to the club of his choice after the 1993 season.”
“Only after a year he was traded to Collingwood for Craig Starcevich and Troy Lehmann, they were traded to the Bears along with Collingwood’s first round pick, so this could be a similar type setup (to Horne-Francis)… only twelve months after becoming a Bear, Nathan Buckley comes to the Pies and the rest is history.”
Hayes: “All is very quickly forgiven if in a couple years’ time, you look at Jason Horne-Francis’ career and he’s absolutely established himself as a star in this competition which, as we know, he absolutely has the traits to do it and now it would seem he would be in the environment to do it as well.”
2. Bryce Gibbs
Hayes and Gibbs shared a laugh about Gibbs' short spell at the Crows
Hayes joked: “This is a good one as well, Bryce Gibbs. Carlton to Adelaide, Carlton receive picks 10, 16 and 73 in the draft and the Crows’ 2018 second-round pick, Adelaide receive Gibbs, number 77 and Carlton’s 2018 second-round and third-round picks. Carlton took Lochie O’Brien with their pick 10, but then Bryce turns up to Adelaide, cuts his hair off and then turns to s—t,.”
Gibbs: “Loses all football ability after cutting his hair off… so who wins that, are we giving that to Carlton?” he responded.
Hayes: “Can they both lose?”
Gibbs: “I think it’s fair to say you could be right there.”
Hayes: “Maybe let’s not analyse that situation and just swiftly move on.”
Gibbs: “36 games, that’s worth two first-round picks... to be fair the Crows promised that I’d probably still be playing, do your four-year deal, add on another year or two at the end, you could go to half-back, extend your career, that panned out the way they thought it would.”
1. Tom Boyd
Hayes: “Finally, Tom Boyd, GWS to the Bulldogs. Of course, this was such a big deal when it was all going through and then it finally did go through and of course the money involved as well was astronomical for the young man, but at the time it almost felt unheard of, people had forgotten about the Nathan Buckley situation and this was the first real, proper situation like this in modern day football.”
Gibbs: “It was huge wasn’t it, and (Boyd) never quite found his feet at the Bulldogs either, he never just quite dominated the way we thought he might, but when it’s all said and done, he helped them win a flag.”
Hayes: “He retires prematurely, plays about 60-odd games in the AFL, and the question is asked, who won, was it GWS or the Bulldogs, well clearly it was the Bulldogs.”
Gibbs: “The money, the things they had to give up to get Tom Boyd and him just kicking pretty much the sealer from inside the centre square, in that Grand Final, pretty much justified everything.”