IN the 2008 AFL National Draft, 79 players were selected to join new clubs, but Tom Rockliff was not one of them.

It's hard to imagine really. All 16 clubs, with 79 picks between them, passed on the Murray Bushrangers' small forward who topped the TAC goalkicking list that season with 59 goals.

The Bushrangers won the premiership, and Rockliff won the club's best and fairest award ahead of quality teammates Jack Ziebell and Steele Sidebottom, who were snapped up at numbers nine and 11 by North Melbourne and Collingwood respectively.

Every draft has its hits and misses and 21-year-old Rockliff - who became the Brisbane Lions' youngest ever club champion on Saturday night - is proving to be one almighty miss for many, many clubs.

It wasn't until the 2009 Pre-season Draft that the Lions punted on him with the fifth pick overall.

In three seasons he has played 40 games, won the club's Rookie of the Year award in 2010, and after being elevated to the leadership group at the start of 2011, averaged 27 disposals per match and took out the Lions' highest individual honour.

He is tough, relentless, loves a contest and has improved his game in all areas.

Statistically he was great in 2011, but Rockliff has also brought the Lions a number of intangibles, most notably his leadership.

So just how did he slip through the net of so many learned scouts?

Rockliff believes injuries at the wrong time of his junior career scared off a number of clubs. A broken leg forced him to miss the 2006 pre-season, and the removal of plates and screws from the leg ensured he missed the 2007 pre-season.

"I'd actually played all my junior footy up to 15 or 16 in the midfield and wasn't a bad runner, but not being able to train for two pre-seasons really takes it out of you when you're 16 and 17, that's when you're going to get real benefits from pre-seasons," Rockliff said.

"There was a perception I couldn't run, but Brisbane took a chance on me and I'll be forever grateful for that."

Rockliff said he was stunned the Lions had opted for him after speaking to the club for only five minutes at the draft camp.

After missing out on the National Draft, Melbourne had expressed interest and said they would pick him up in the Rookie Draft, but the Lions pounced earlier.

Rockliff said he was disappointed to miss out initially but held no grudges against the clubs that had passed on him.

"When the draft came around I was one that could have gone either way. Some people were saying I could go top 20 and others were saying I had no chance so I knew it could have gone either way," he said.

"There was a question on my endurance and speed. I'm never going to be the quickest bloke over 20m or 40m but I can be quick over 5m. I don't seem to get caught a lot and I was always going to work on my endurance because I'd never done a pre-season and had an opportunity to work on my fitness.

"I'm more of a footballer first than an athlete and I think you can teach a footballer to run but I'm not sure you can teach athletes to play footy and give them the footy smarts that good players have."

And Rockliff has been taught to run. It's not only an area he has developed but one that is now a strength.

He came to the Lions with a 3km time of 12.50 and a beep test mark of 12.4 but has dramatically improved both to now clock 10.40 and 14.5 respectively.

Rockliff said he felt there was a slight shift from scouts simply looking at how fast people could run or how high they could jump.

"They are starting to pick blokes that can play footy instead of blokes that can run and do a 20m sprint in 2.7 or 2.6. I think it's good for footy because there's a lot of blokes I played with that were good footballers but not six foot tall or great runners and they got passed over," he said.

"I've done the work on my endurance and it's still something I'll look to improve. I've just got to be good and clean inside. I'm never going to be a player who breaks away from a pack and takes four running bounces and kicks long goals.

"I've got to play to my strengths. It's not so much about working on your weaknesses but working on your strengths and that's what's going to make you a good player. That's some of the best advice I've been given.

"You can improve your weaknesses to get to a level but it's your strengths that will set you apart. I've got to be one-touch, clean and make sure you use the ball well when you've got it."

Rockliff is far from the finished product, but with a club champion and vice-captain in their midst, the Lions have already got the ultimate value from a Pre-season Draft selection.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs

Michael Whiting covers Brisbane Lions news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mike_whiting