Completely agree, Wasn't much system about how we brought in players, wasn't much quality about it either. Ratten lucked out with the lack of quality staff around him. He really didn't have the training under him or experience, fair to say he would now you would think.
We signed a coach with no process behind it at all who hadn't really had the experience to gain the qualifications. We failed to have quality people in list management and recruitment roles. We had a load of early picks which anyone can work with which made it appear we were going alright because we were improving. However we used some of those picks on good ordinary players instead of much better options. We rarely used picks well out of the first round. Some years we took nothing from the national draft. Luckily we found some players in the rookie draft along the way. Once we got up the ladder a bit the picks got lower and we were found out badly. We made some minor changes to recruitment but the damage was already well and truly done. We sold our soul for Judd who carried us for years and years but we lost some early picks and a gun key forward and created a team that relied heavily on individuals. We were found out with a list that had a good top, thin midsection and no bottom. It's no wonder things didn't work out for us. It's a wonder we were able to half build a side that was able to be half good to be honest.
You ask, why wasn't Hughes outed quicker, questions were being asked on here years before he was moved on. Plenty of posters could see it. Some coaches would have seen that the players being brought in were no good long before we did. Was it the coach who wasn't a great judge of footballers and took too long to see that the recruiting was stuffed and took too long to see that many of those players were no good? We certainly gave some pretty average footballers too long of an opportunity on our list.
So different to last time it's not funny. We seem to have learnt a bit which is good. We've gone through a thorough process to hire a coach with the right credentials and experience and we've put experienced people with him. We've hired a highly rated list manager who from what I have heard puts in a lot of effort into his job. We have a plan on how we want to build, we've been tactical at trade week. We've potentially had one of the best drafts in many many years. We seem to have a good system in place that has come about from having a good system in place which is a refreshing change from no system in place.
Best thing with the roles being more segregated now with a list manager, recruiter, coach, fitness staff etc is that when things go wrong a review will be able to find who hasn't been performing. It also provides people an opportunity to be more focused and put more time in different areas. It's a good change, I'm glad we're going down this path. I think SOS would have been very quick to question the things Hughes was doing, he's more ruthless and appears he has a good eye for talent/players.
