Any draft can set any club up, or send them tumbling the other way. Some time needs to pass before we know which clubs will look back on 2015 most fondly, but Tuesday night in Adelaide shaped as an especially important night for a few of them, even before Stephen Silvagni selected Jacob Weitering's name from a drop-down menu on the new draft software, selecting him as the No. 1 pick.

One was Melbourne, who really want to start getting better and who know more than any other club that loading up on early draft picks doesn't mean success will automatically follow. Or follow at all. The Demons made it clear during the trade period that they believe in what they are doing and know they will go, giving away their first-round pick in next year's draft to secure two top-seven picks in this one.

They might not be picking right at the top again for a while. They don't want to be picking up top for a long time. Clayton Oliver and Sam Weideman could be their last top-level picks for a bit. They chose for themselves a big, bullocking midfielder and a key forward to grow up with Jesse Hogan.

This draft meant plenty to Essendon, too. The Bombers have chosen well in the past few years, despite being removed from the first round of the 2013 draft and having to lose Stewart Crameri and Paddy Ryder to bring Zach Merrett and Kyle Langford in. But obliged and under pressure to keep their group together throughout the investigation into the injection program, they perhaps hadn't made the cuts to their list they would otherwise have made, had things not been quite so up in the air.

That's happened now. Essendon cut, retired or traded 13 players at the end of the season, bringing Matthew Leuenberger in as well as Craig Bird, who helped them get the Jake Carlisle to St Kilda deal done. They delisted players they could have talked themselves into keeping on for coverage, and in doing so, exposing some very big holes, up forward and in the midfield. They didn't twist Carlisle's arm too hard when he decided he wanted out, and didn't up their offer to Jake Melksham after Melbourne came after him. They ended up with two picks in the top six for the first time in 19 years, as well as four inside 30 and six all up. They turned this draft into a big one for themselves.

They had to wait on Melbourne before making their first call, then wait and see who made it into the 20s, and they picked two of the best-performed players in the pool. Aaron Francis can play forward, back and he has good enough instincts in the midfield to suggest he'll be able to spend some time in there once he gets to work on improving his endurance. Before him they chose Darcy Parish, a similarly low-risk prospect, a much-needed addition to their midfield group. Other players in this draft might have more scope, but not too much.

They know exactly what this pair can do, and with their next two players found some midfield size. Mason Redman is a tough kid, natural and energetic. Alex Morgan stepped away from football in 2014 but came back this year and before a hamstring injury played as a creative utility who liked to get the game moving.

Then there were the Blues, who are coming from an even longer way back. The club had already cleared out a lot of players before Silvagni came home as their new list manager, but the Carlton icon has spent his first season at the club doing some very anti-Carlton things.

Fifteen players retired, took off or were moved on under his supervision, the Blues sacrificing the talented Troy Menzel and Chris Yarran as part of their much grander plan. The players they brought in will probably not be their next champions - some will help connect their bottom-placed team to their next one, others will hopefully come to mean a bit more than that given they are young - but the rest of what the Blues did during the trade period should become much more meaningful.

The old Carlton got out of drafts, not into them like this new version did. The Blues had three number-one draft picks in their list before Tuesday but before this year had never aggressively sought out multiple early picks, or taken enough picks to enhance their chances of getting three, four or more really good ones in the one year, and to start something really significant up. The draft is a numbers game and not many expect this draft to go down as one of the greats. But holding four picks in 23 is an excellent start in any draft, and what the Blues managed to get hold of.

Weitering was their man from a fairly long way out. He looked ready to be playing senior footy very early this year. He's not perfect - no draftee is - but they picked him knowing he is a smart player, who has the athletic attributes and the attitude to keep doing what he does at a higher level and get even better at it. He's been picked as a key back, the first to be chosen at number one in many years.

That choice was in Carlton's hands. And they knew they would be able to cover any bid that came for Jack Silvagni, using one of their two late picks. The rest weren't, so much, and having Adelaide's first pick sandwiched before their second and third meant games were going on in the lead-up.

The Blues needed to get talent in, first and foremost. Every part of their list needed work and will need more in the next few years. But, in Harry McKay, they matched Weitering up with a key forward, a young and raw one who loves to run and jump. He'll need time, but he has so much scope.

In Charlie Curnow, they got someone with perhaps even more: a big, strong forward who's already shown glimpses of what he can do in the middle. And with the last of their four early picks they had a look at a fourth tall - Weitering's full-back at Dandenong, Kieran Collins. Instead, they balanced things out.

David Cuningham is a midfielder who likes it around the stoppages and has some work do to on his kicking but get him into space and he has pace, pace, pace. They basically got Silvagni - the new SOS - for nothing late in the draft after Essendon bid with the pick before the Blues, at 53.

The Demons hope this will be the end. The Blues hope this will be the start. The Bombers will hope their picks mean they can bounce back to where they hoped they would already be. But what draftees do after the draft matters so much more than what they do to get there. Their clubs need them to be good and will help them get there, but most of it is up to them now.