Earlier in the off-season we looked at the players that have been taken with pick 24 – Geelong’s first selection in this year’s NAB AFL Draft – since the first draft was held in 1986.
Now it’s time to look at the history of pick 38, which is Geelong’s second selection in this year’s draft.
As it turns out, the Cats have had this particular pick on four previous occasions and have used it to select some very good players.
The most famous of them is Cameron Ling, who Geelong chose in the 1999 draft.
Ling went on to play in three premierships and captained the Cats in the 2011 Grand Final win over Collingwood.
The Cats were able to use pick 38 to nab a father-son selection, Mark Blake, in the 2003 draft.
A towering ruckman, Blake was part of the 2009 Grand Final win over St Kilda.
Back in 1997, the Cats nabbed James Rahilly, then a young kid from Warrnambool, with pick 38.
Rahilly played 90 AFL games between 1998 and 2005 and is now a member of the club’s coaching staff.
Geelong has had one miss with pick 38, and that came back in 1993 when the club selected David Innella.
Innella didn’t play an AFL game, although he did make a name for himself at grassroots level in 2005 by kicking 26 goals for Central Altona in a Western Region league game against Brunswick Power.
Looking at the players other clubs have selected with pick 38 over the years, the biggest names among them are former Carlton and Brisbane Lions full-forward Brendan Fevola and West Coast premiership player Ashley Hansen.
EVERY PICK 38 IN VFL/AFL DRAFT HISTORY
2015: Harley Balic (Fremantle)
2014: Jack Hiscox (Sydney Swans)
2013: Dayle Garlett (Hawthorn)
2012: Jackson Ramsay (Collingwood)
2011: Jordan Kelly (Hawthorn)
2010: Mitch Hallahan (Hawthorn)
2009: Sam Reid (Sydney Swans)
2008: Matthew Broadbent (Port Adelaide)
2007: Myke Cook (Adelaide)
2006: James Hawksley (Brisbane Lions)
2005: Travis Tuck (Hawthorn)
2004: Damien McCormack (Western Bulldogs)
2003: Mark Blake (Geelong)
2002: Blake Grima (North Melbourne)
2001: Ashley Hansen (West Coast)
2000: Michael Handby (Adelaide)
1999: Cameron Ling (Geelong)
1998: Brendan Fevola (Carlton)
1997: James Rahilly (Geelong)
1996: Sam Smart (Carlton)
1995: Jason Cripps (St Kilda)
1994: Matthew Collins (Adelaide)
1993: David Innella (Geelong)
1992: David Dighton (North Melbourne)
1991: Jamie Rundle (Western Bulldogs)
1990: Grant McFarlane (Collingwood)
1989: Gavin Rose (Collingwood)
1988: Jeremy Crough (West Coast)
1987: John Polkinghorne (Hawthorn)
1986: Simon Minton-Connell (Carlton)
