Who are the players they took that no other club would have taken?
Watts, Scully, Trengove, Grimes, Tapscott, Blease, Gysberts, Lucas Cook, Jeremy Howe, Gawn, Cale Morton, Grimes, Strauss or Addam Maric? Strauss and Maric are the only players I don't recall being seriously discussed in the media as being high picks (and it is probably my memory).
That is 12 players taken in the first and second rounds between 2007 and 2010.I don't know them well enough to discuss the rest of their recruiting but 12 of 14 players is a pretty good start. The issue is that maybe two of them are established in the side as consistent performers.
Say what you want about where these players are at the moment but the reality is that they were always going to be drafted when they were. It means that everyone was wrong. I just don't think recruiting works that way. The talent was correctly identified (in the first and second round anyway) but the development of the players has been appalling which shouldn't be a surprise given the tanking and knifing of senior players.