One week to go.

The 2018 NAB AFL Draft kicks off on Thursday 22 November, with the two-day event to see the country’s best young talent find their new AFL homes.

We’ll look at Carlton’s hauls over the last five years, after the Club’s mandate to bring in the best young talent before entering phase two.

Let’s begin with the 2013 event: all things considered, the Blues now have two first-round picks from five years ago.

It’s an appropriate place to start, given the events which kickstarted Carlton’s off-season this year.

Patrick Cripps — Pick 13

At the time considered a surprising draft selection, the recruitment of Patrick Cripps couldn’t have worked out better for the Blues.

In his draft year, Cripps was an All-Australian for his work at Western Australia in the Under-18 Championships and East Fremantle in the WAFL Colts. Unsurprisingly, his strengths were his clearance work and extract the ball from a contested situation.

Cripps averaged 19 disposals and 12 contested possessions in his five games for WA, as he began to assert himself as one of the premier inside midfielders in the country.

While there were may have been doubts at the time about his running capabilities, a big part of Cripps’ development was his growth spurt — he grew 20cm over the course of two years before the draft.

“At 16, I was still physically immature and a small player. Coming into this year, I sort of felt like I was a little player in a bigger player’s body,” Cripps said at the time.

“Growing late helped me in a way to pick up the attributes of quick and clean hands and not just rely on strength.”

Cripps’ response after making his way to Carlton with pick No.13 couldn’t have been more emphatic. His first 81 games have been memorable and with two best and fairest awards already, there’s plenty more to come.

In what may go down as one of the most-talented draft crops in history, Cripps could be the pick of the bunch.

Darcy Lang — Pick 16 (via Geelong)

Plying his trade for the Geelong Falcons as well as Vic Country, Darcy Lang made his way to Geelong with its first  selection in November 2013.

He was averaging 22 disposals for the Falcons in the TAC Cup in his top-age year, before an unlucky injury - a broken leg and dislocated ankle - sustained in the Under-18 Championships put a dampener on his season.

However, Geelong had still seen enough from the talented Lang - who turned 18 on draft night - to take him with pick No.16, largely because of his efficiency by both hand and foot as well as his leg speed.

Lang featured in 44 games for the Cats across four seasons, including two finals in 2017. He added a further 11 games in his first year at the Blues, after making his way to Carlton in a trade just over 12 months ago.

With an ability to hit the scoreboard (37 goals in 55 games), Lang will be hopeful of putting his injury troubles behind him ahead of his second season at Ik

on Park.