North Melbourne will be hoping 28 proves lucky again this year after the draft pick changed hands five times, part of the frantic wheeling and dealing of the AFL trade period.

Geelong held the 28th draft selection at the start of last week, but early on they swapped it – with pick nine and youngster Dean Gore – with Adelaide in exchange for star midfielder Patrick Dangerfield.

Adelaide passed it on to Carlton as part of the deal that secured them goal kicker Troy Menzel.

The Blues quickly traded pick 28, along with 77, 95 and Geelong's first-round selection in 2016, for four Giants, Andrew Phillips, Liam Sumner, Lachie Plowman and Jed Lamb.

On Wednesday pick 28 went to Collingwood as part of a deal to get Adam Treloar to the club, but they sent it to North Melbourne as part of a complicated three-way swap that helped James Aish land at the Pies and Ryan Bastinac to the Lions.

Last year's number 28 pick Dillon Viojo-Rainbow went to Carlton and has not yet played an AFL game.

He appeared in 16 VFL matches but his performances were patchy and he missed three rounds mid-year with a calf injury. Brisbane's Lewis Taylor was pick 28 at the end of 2013 and has found more success.

He played all 22 games in each of the 2014 and 2015 seasons and averaged nearly 21 disposals this year, but some commentators have questioned his effectiveness with the ball.

Before that, Hawthorn's Tim O'Brien has not made much of an impression, while West Coast's Fraser McInnes played his first AFL game this year after being picked up as selection 28 in 2011.

Guerra, who played in more than 250 AFL games for Port Adelaide, St Kilda and Hawthorn, was pick 28 in the 1999 AFL draft. Johnson went to the Bombers as pick 28 at the end of 1996.