It will begin at pick No.80 and count down to No.1, taking in the first year of the draft in 1986 up to the most recent in 2015.

It will not list the best 80 players drafted; rather, the best player taken from each of the 80 selections – for instance, the best No.1 pick, the best No.2 pick, and so on.

Have your say on our selections of the best picks from 80-20, and be sure to come back to realfooty.com.au and vote on the best top-20 picks of all time.

Pick No. 20

Nat Fyfe – Fremantle, 2009, 112 games

The shortlist: Adrian Fletcher (Geelong, 1988, 231 games), Scott Cummings (Essendon, 1992, 128 games), Kane Cornes (Port Adelaide, 2000, 293 games).

The Fremantle superstar probably had this spot sown up before this year's Brownlow Medal night, but securing the game's top individual award rubber-stamped his place.

Pick No.20: this year's Brownlow medallist, Nat Fyfe. Photo: Getty Images

Pick No.19

Barry Hall – St Kilda, 1995, 289 games

The short list: Brad Green (Melbourne, 1999, 254 games), David Mundy (Fremantle, 2003, 233 games), Isaac Smith (Hawthorn, 2010 draft, 111 games)

Hard to go past "Big Bad Barry", the intimidating key forward who left St Kilda after 88 games to became Sydney's drought-breaking premiership captain. He was a four-time All-Australian, best and fairest winner and seven-time leading goal-kicker at Sydney before finishing his career at the Western Bulldogs. His career goals tally of 746 - which included leading the goal-kicking at the Bulldogs and St Kilda twice - puts him 14th on the all-time list.

Pick No.18

Anthony Stevens – North Melbourne, 1988, 292 games

The shortlist: Rhyce Shaw (Collingwood, Father/Son -1999, 237 games), Daniel Kerr (West Coast, 2000, 220 games), Alex Rance (Richmond, 2007, 130 games)

Ruck rover in the Roos team of the century, Stevens was one of the true "Shinboners", playing a key part of the club's 1996 premiership, winning the best and fairest in '97, earning All-Australian honours in '98 and then taking out North's best and fairest again in the 1999 premiership year. That record and longevity put him ahead of Kerr, a one-time premiership player and All-Australian. Rance has just become an elite key defender - winning the Tigers' best and fairest this year as well as his second All-Australian jumper – but he is not in Stevens' category yet.

Pick No.17

James Kelly - Geelong, 2001, 273 games

The shortlist: Angelo Lekkas (Hawthorn, 1993, 180 games), Scott Welsh (North Melbourne, 1995, 205 games), Harry Taylor (Geelong, 2007, 180 games).

This one had the potential to divide Geelong supporters, with Taylor the unlucky Cat to miss out. Again, the longevity rule was used to split them, with Kelly providing the club with 93 games more service than Taylor up until now. This meant he was a part of the 2007 premiership team, whereas Taylor had not yet been drafted to the club. There would be just as many people in the Taylor camp, though, and understandably so.

Pick No.16

Fraser Gehrig – West Coast, 1993, 260 games

The Shortlist: Adem Yze (Melbourne, 1994, 271 games), Scott Thompson (Melbourne, 2000, 285 games), Richard Douglas (Adelaide, 2005, 171 games).

This was a genuine 50-50 with Thompson. The "G Train" ranks in the top 50 all time for career goals with 549, while Thompson ranks in the top 25 of all time for Brownlow Medal votes. Non-St Kilda  fans might not remember that Gehrig won the Coleman Medal in 2004 and 2005, and he was twice All-Australian – and once in 1997 playing for West Coast, named on the half forward flank. That is one more "AA" jumper than Thompson, however the rock-hard midfielder has two Crows best and fairests and has been super-consistent, finishing runner-up once and third another two times.

The criteria

Selections are based on a player's overall career and not just his value to the club that originally drafted him.

Players who originally came into the AFL system via one club, but then left and had a greater impact elsewhere, are not discounted. But players are only considered at the selection where they first entered the system.

This means players who might have been "redrafted" by another club at a different pick, or players who originally entered the system via the rookie draft and were later "elevated" by the same club through the national draft, are not considered at that new selection number.

Father-son players are only counted when clubs had to use a specific draft pick to secure them.

Our list does not encompass pre-draft, zone, compensation, uncontracted player, merger, 17-year-old access or any other additional selections. Only players whose careers could be traced back to a specific number in the national draft are included.

The list covers only the national draft – not the pre-season or rookie drafts.

Longevity – games played and years in the system – is sometimes used to break deadlocks.

Draft orders were taken from the official AFL records.

Without further ado, here's our picks from 40 to 31.