The Bombers weren't exactly short on big men who played in the ruck, with veteran David Hille and a very promising pair in Paddy Ryder and Tom Bellchambers a pretty decent roll call.

Jenkins had spent the 2011 season in the VFL with Bendigo Bombers, showing some good early form in the ruck, before injury slowed his progress. But pick 31 would enable to them to help fill a void in the shape of speedy Geelong Falcons runner Jackson Merrett.

Hindsight in drafting and trading is a wonderful and ultimately useless tool, of course, but the Jenkins part of that equation is one Essendon wouldn't mind revisiting, particularly now.

The biggest single clue to his capabilities, in retrospect, came not with what he did for Bendigo in the ruck, but a game against Geelong's reserves late in that 2011 season, when Jenkins played as a key forward and kicked five goals on the back of some strong marking and agility at ground level.

Perhaps Essendon might have studied that effort in a bit more detail. Because after the retirement of Hille, the departure of Ryder, and the CAS suspension dealt to Bellchambers, the Bombers have been forced to hunt elsewhere for ruckmen, their biggest hole remains up forward, where an overworked and still raw Joe Daniher is feeling the pinch.

What stings most is the fact it's the same part of the ground where Jenkins' stocks continue to rise at the club to which he was traded.

Not that even near goal there seemed an obvious spot for Jenkins when he departed. Jake Carlisle was an exciting key position prospect. Scott Gumbleton was injury-prone but continued to tease with his potential. There was Cale Hooker and Michael Hurley.

But Gumbleton continued to break down. Carlisle left for St Kilda. And like him, Hooker and Hurley sit out the 2016 season thanks to suspension.

Daniher is one-out all too often, too easily shut down by opposing defences. And all the while, as Adelaide impresses as a credible top four contender under new coach Don Pyke, Jenkins becomes more and more the key component of a forward set-up already loaded with talent and goalkicking potential.

Despite the obvious disruption of the tragic death of former coach Phil Walsh midway through the year, 2015 proved a breakout season for Jenkins.

He finished with a then career-best 46 goals, part of a dangerous quartet alongside skipper Taylor Walker, Eddie Betts and Tom Lynch, who between them compiled exactly 200 goals.

He didn't just fire on the good days, either. Indeed, one of his best games came in the semi-final smashing at the hands of Hawthorn, when he managed half the Crows' eight-goal tally.

Perhaps that was also a pointer of what was to come. Because in 2016, while Adelaide still has a wide range of goalkicking options, as far as targets go, Jenkins has become THE go-to man for the Crows.

Already, after seven games,  he is equal third in the AFL goalkicking with 23, at an average 3.3 per game. At his current rate, he'll surpass his 2015 tally only two-thirds of the way through the season. And his Adelaide teammates are looking for him more and more.

Jenkins currently leads the Crows for marks inside 50 with 19, considerably more than his captain's tally of 12. His scoreboard impact (goals kicked and assisted) dwarfs Walker's. And he's been the target for Adelaide's inside 50 entries just as often. Last year, Walker led Jenkins two-to-one in that particular statistic.

None of which is a reflection on Walker, who has still been valuable at times roaming further up the ground. More a statement on the increasing confidence of Jenkins, who after a battle to establish himself on an AFL list, coming late with a basketball background, has made the hard work pay off.

Perhaps, for Essendon, it was about impatience as much as what stocks were already in the larder.

Given the amount of tall timber the club possessed, Jenkins would have to deliver something pretty special. There were moments, but not enough of them, with a view also held among the coaching staff that he wasn't physical enough for senior AFL level.

It's not the first judgment on a player history has proved wrong. And not the first time what seemed a surplus of a particular type became instead over time a deficiency. But it stings even more when an obvious hole in the line-up of the club which let a player go becomes a more obvious strength of the club to which that player journeyed.

Essendon would have loved a crystal ball at the end of 2011. Adelaide and Jenkins, too, are probably pretty glad the Dons didn't have that luxury.