I agree there has been improvement in drafting but I’m not sure it’s as readily seen with pick 1 as that had generally been more obvious. Go back a decade to Gibbs and Murphy drafts - while they may not be the “best” in those drafts, they are easily in the top 3-4. It’s hard to argue we stuffed them up. There’s been an enormous improvement in in the mid to late first round drafting though, I agree.
It’s a good point re the nature of the players taken at 1 but even if we just look at midfielders in the last 10-12 years, it’s Murphy, Gibbs, Whitfield, Scully, swallow. Not exactly a murderers row when compared to others available in those drafts. Gibbs arguably the only one who has reached genuinely elite status over his career.
I actually think the biggest argument against relying on drafting history is that GWS and GWS skewed things a bit with the academy players and their willingness to draft for need. It doesn’t necessarily give an accurate picture of the draft.
