Nick Vlastuin has finished on the podium in the past two Richmond best and fairest counts after being selected with pick No.9 in the 2012 AFL National Draft.

With Richmond in such a dominant position at the upcoming national draft, holding eight picks inside the top 24, AFL draft expert Cal Twomey’s comments on the latest episode of popular AFL.com.au show “Gettable” will further enhance the excitement of the Tiger Army.

Twomey has provided an analysis of the major individual awards in the competition this year to outline why utilising the draft system is so important for AFL clubs.

“We all love trade and free agency . . . and the best clubs in terms of their list management have traversed that path so well. They manage to pick up the best players to help them immediately,” Twomey said.

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“Every club looks at trade and free agents and says that’s the type of thing we want to do for our club. How can we get better in the short term and fix us up in certain areas – a, b, and c?

“But for supporters out there who thought their clubs were a bit quieter in the trade period or free agency periods, and heard their clubs talk about we’re going to take a draft focus, I just want to go through some numbers that suggest that’s the best policy and the best practice to actually find the best players.

“Let’s look at the top 10 in the Brownlow Medal this year . . . only one of those players wasn’t drafted by their club.

“Fourteen club best and fairests were won by players drafted by their club.

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“Of the top 21 vote-getters in the AFL Coaches’ Association award, 17 were drafted by their club.

“So, the overwhelming number of players who are the best in the competition were drafted by their clubs.

“We’re talking about the likes of Caleb Serong, Hugh McCluggage, Zak Butters, Max Holmes, Patrick Cripps, Zac Merrett, Errol Gulden, Jai Newcombe, Andrew Brayshaw, Noah Anderson, Nick Daicos . . .

“So, don’t despair if the club takes a draft focus because this is actually where you find the best players.

“The trade and free agency period, we love it . . . but the draft period is where you actually do your best work.”