Simon Black played 300 games, won a Brownlow and Norm Smith Medal and played in three premierships. Photo: AFL MEDIA

When looking at the revised 1997 AFL draft top 10, two aspects stand out like a sore thumb.

Firstly, three of the game’s greatest-ever players were incredibly taken with picks in the 30s and 40s. And secondly, five members of the original top 10 kept their spots, so the recruiters of the time deserve a bit of a pat on the back in that regard.

However, they lose big points for allowing Brisbane legend Simon Black and Sydney superstar Adam Goodes to slip to pick 31 and 43 respectively. Champion Geelong defender Matthew Scarlett going at 45 is understandable because he was a father-son selection – one of many incredible Geelong father-son success stories.

It’s not an easy task deciding who comes out on top between Black, Goodes and Scarlett, but ultimately it is Black who takes out No.1 spot in the revised 1997 AFL draft top 10.

What can you say about Simon Black that accurately reflects what a maestro he was out on the field? A member of the legendary “Fab Four” midfield ensemble, which also featured Michael Voss, Jason Akermanis and Nigel Lappin, Black built a reputation as an incredibly damaging, yet silky-smooth onballer for the Lions.

A key plank in Brisbane’s “three-peat” teams at the turn of the century, Black was the team’s Rolls Royce. He was an absolute delight to watch for footy fans around the country as he effortlessly tore opposition teams apart with his incredible ball-finding abilities, sublime skills and evasiveness.

Black is Brisbane’s all-time games record holder with 322, and in 16 seasons of footy he won three flags, a Brownlow Medal, a Norm Smith Medal, three All-Australian jumpers, three best-and-fairests and also co-captained the side for a couple of years. In fact, Black and Jimmy Bartel are the only players in history to play 300 games, win a Brownlow, a Norm Smith and three premierships.

Black had a career average of 24 disposals, 11 contested possessions, five clearances and four tackles per game.

Goodes comes in at No.2, and deservedly so as he is now legitimately in the conversation as the greatest player in South Melbourne/Sydney history.

Goodes is now the second most-capped Indigenous player of all time with 372 games (and ninth on the all-time list), and is also a member of the exclusive 300-game-400-goal club, of which there are only 27 members.

He could do it all – play in the midfield, play as a ruckman and play as a forward with devastating results. His explosive pace coupled with his height gave him a very unique and coveted set of attributes in the prime years of his career.

Underscoring Goodes’ incredible versatility was that he not only won a Brownlow in 2006 as a midfielder who drifted forward, but he was also the last player to win a Brownlow as a recognised ruckman in 2003.

Goodes also won a pair of premierships with the Swans, most famously and courageously in 2012 with a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his knee, three best-and-fairests, four All-Australians, a Rising Star and was a three-time leading goalkicker for the Swans.

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Scarlett zooms up the rankings from 45 to three as arguably the greatest defender of the modern era and certainly one of the best of all time.

The brilliant Cat’s ability to not only comfortably beat his opponent one-on-one but to also read the play exceptionally well set him apart for many years. In fact his ability to win the ball in the back half was so elite that he actually collected 30 or more disposals in a game on six occasions.

With 284 games over 15 years, Scarlett ranks ninth on Geelong’s all-time list. He was a member of the Cats’ last three premierships and etched his name into grand final folklore in 2009 with his outrageous toe-poke to Gary Ablett in the middle of the ground in the frantic final minutes against St Kilda which set up the match-winning goal kicked by Paul Chapman.

Scarlett was a six-time All-Australian and was also inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

The 1997 draft was a crucial building block for Brisbane’s future premiership success because not only did the newly-named Lions pick up Black, but also Luke Power at pick five, and Power gets a mini upgrade to four.

If Power was playing at any other club in his prime he would have been in the top one or two midfielders in the team, but such was the depth of talent at the Lions that he was referred to as “the fifth Beatle”, because the on-ball brigade was already stacked with Voss, Akermanis, Black and Lappin.

Power was a superb player in his own right, though, and was a crucial member of the Lions’ three flags. A tireless and durable competitor, he earned an All-Australian nod in 2004 and also co-captained Brisbane for two seasons. A late stint with GWS helped him reach the 300-game milestone. He also co-captained the Giants in their inaugural 2012 season.

Geelong can also look at the 1997 revised top 10 as a big moment in the journey to premiership success as star ruckman Brad Ottens, originally taken by Richmond, comes in at No.5 after sliding from two.

He always had potential at the Tigers but never quite fulfilled it until he was traded to the Cats, where he became a critical part of the Geelong sides that dominated the AFL for years. Not only was Ottens a superb ruckman, but he was also capable of drifting forward with effect, ending up with 261 goals from 245 games.

Port Adelaide champion Chad Cornes shifts up from nine to six, Collingwood and Fremantle star Chris Tarrant creeps up from eight to seven and Hawthorn/Fremantle swing man Trent Croad drops from three to eight.

Gun Port Adelaide and Carlton midfielder Nick Stevens climbs from 25 to nine while West Coast premiership onballer Chad Fletcher represents the biggest bargain, rounding out the top 10 after being taken at pick 28 in the rookie draft, which was essentially pick No.128.

Apologies must go to Dean Solomon and Travis Johnstone, who just missed out on the top 10 as did super-bargains Tarkyn Lockyer (pick 39 rookie draft), Dean Rioli (pick three rookie draft) and Nathan Thompson (pick 82).

Power, Ottens, Cornes, Tarrant and Croad all kept their spots in the top 10.

*Redrafts only consider the first time a player was drafted.