Great pick: Hawthorn star Sam Mitchell has risen to the AFL ranks from pick 36 in the AFL draft. Picture: Sebastian Constanzo/The Age
HAWTHORN Football Club is well and truly settled in its Waverley Park home but its playing group comes from all around Australia and from all rounds of the draft and recruitment spectrum.
Many football supporters believe finals calibre sides are filled for the most part with first round draft picks, but that is rarely the case.
Instead the best teams, at least in the past few years, invariably have featured a mix of early draft picks, late round 'roughies', rookie-listed risers and even the odd player plucked from a state league or even from retirement.
The Hawks' 2008 premiership team featured one such player in former Port Power star Stuart Dew, whom the Hawks convinced to come out of retirement ahead of that season.
In the current Hawks side there are several established players who took the long way to get to AFL level.
Star rover Sam Mitchell is considered one of the elite players in the game but was overlooked 35 times in the 2001 AFL draft before before being selected by Fremantle at pick 36, then traded to the Hawks.
Another star on-baller, Brad Sewell, was taken with pick seven in the 2003 rookie draft before making his debut the following season.
Hard-working utility Shane Savage kicked some key goals in the Hawks' win over Collingwood in the qualifying final, yet he was pick 75 in the 2008 AFL draft.
Similarly, Paul Puopolo was pick 66 in the 2010 AFL draft.
Matt Suckling is considered one of the best kicks in the whole league yet he was left to the AFL rookie draft where the Hawks took him with pick 22 in 2007, then elevated him to the main list in 2009.
Second-leading goal-kicker Luke Breust is another rookie listed player who has come good, rising from pick 47 in the 2009 rookie draft to become a star.
Running midfielder Clinton Young is one of the Hawks looking to become a two-premiership player in the current finals series but he had to make the big leagues the hard way, winning elevation from the rookie list in 2005 to make his debut.
Star Hawks such as Luke Hodge (2001, pick 1) Jarryd Roughead (2004, pick 2), Lance Franklin (2004, pick 5), Jordan Lewis (2004, pick 7) and Cyril Rioli (2007, pick 12) have all lived up to their high selections and play major roles in the Hawks' success.
In the past few seasons the Hawks have also traded sagely, adding young forward Jack Gunston, full-back Josh Gibson, midfielder Shaun Burgoyne and ruckman-forward David Hale.