Since the introduction of the current draft system in 1986, only one side that's been there from the very beginning has never had the No.1 pick. 

That team? 

You guessed it; North Melbourne. 

Underlining the club's never beaten ethos, the Roos have simply refused to bottom-out or concede defeat.  

It is a testament to the culture of the club and its famed Shinboner Spirit that it hasn't ever had the luxury of the first choice and the best available player in the draft. 

In recent times, North played the Brisbane Lions in Round 23, 2017, with the loser handed the wooden spoon and the number one selection in the Draft. 

In what was dubbed “The Cam Rayner Cup”, the Roos saw winning as the only option and thumped the Lions at the Gabba by 51 points. 

It resulted in them getting pick 4 (Luke Davies-Uniacke) instead. 

“I firmly believe if you try and manipulate things to try and get a slightly better player than another, then that will definitely come back to bite you at some point,” Brad Scott said at the time. 

"The difference between, what is it, pick one and pick four? It's going to be a good player, it's going to be a very good player … we value the competitiveness and the values of our football club much higher than three differences in the draft."

North has only had the opportunity to choose a player earlier than pick 4 on two occasions - Daniel Wells at pick 2 in 2002, and Lachlan Hansen at pick 3 in 2006.

In fact, North has only ever had five top-5 selections in the Draft's 32-year history. As well as Wells and Hansen, it also had John McNamara (pick 4, 1988), Ben Cunnington (pick 5, 2009) and Luke Davies-Uniacke (pick 4, 2017).

In comparison, Carlton’s selection of Sam Walsh on Thursday was the fifth time the Blues have taken the first pick in the draft, while Melbourne, St Kilda and Richmond have all had three number 1s.

Since they joined the national competition, Adelaide and Port Adelaide remain the only other teams to have never had a pick 1.