Former Geelong midfielder Liam Pickering has recalled the two years of brilliant drafting which set up an era of sustained success for the club.
In 1999, the Cats largely nailed the draft by taking Joel Corey (Pick 8), Paul Chapman (Pick 31), Cameron Ling (Pick 38) and Corey Enright (Pick 47) before selecting Jimmy Bartel (Pick 8), James Kelly (Pick 17), Steve Johnson (Pick 24) and Gary Ablett (Pick 40, father/son) in the 2001 draft.
The proof in Geelong’s selection process was in the pudding as all eight players played in premierships in the ensuing decade (seven players played in the 2007, 2009 and 2011 flags while Ablett missed 2011 after he left to join the Gold Coast Suns).
Now a leading player agent, Pickering was in his final year as a player when Geelong started to strike gold and spoke of the sensational work pulled off by the Cats recruiting team in essentially building a dynasty.
“Leading into my last year, Geelong recruited Paul Chapman, Cameron Ling, Joel Corey and Corey Enright,” Pickering said on SEN Breakfast.
“They smashed two drafts - 1999 and 2001 - and set up their whole next decade.
“Of all those blokes, at 18-19, I thought I couldn’t seeing them having the careers they had.
“Lingy ended up playing in the midfield in his first year which was a bloody good effort.
“Joel Corey you could tell was going to be a really good player, he was just learning how to play in the midfield at men’s level. He was a superstar player.
“And so was Corey Enright and Chappy had some rough edges on him early but wasn’t he a good player? He was a star, Paul Chapman.”
He added: “In two drafts, they got those four in, and then they got Kelly, Bartel, Ablett and Johnson.
“All-Australians, Best and Fairests, premiership players, the whole lot of them.
“Eight players in two drafts, two years apart. Over 250 games, most of them.”