It's a little naive (and a great deal defensive) to deny we had, shall we say, a "talent identification issue" for much of 2008-2014.
To put it mildly, we were very, very poor at the selection table.
I maintain a number of selections were hampered somewhat by heavily compromised drafts that funnelled top tier picks to two destinations, whilst many other top talents didn't even make it to draft might, which again diluted the talent pool on offer.
During those drafts we seemed to either not do any prep or homework, resulting in guesses on draft night.
Here are some examples of bad selections:
2008: traded pick 24 for Warnock. That selection could've netted us Dayne Beams (29), Daniel Hanneberry (30), Rory Sloane (44)
Players acquired during trade/drafts: 12
Players remaining on list from trade/drafts: 0
2009: traded in McLean for 11, got 12 + Henderson for Fevola. Used 12 on Lucas. That selection could've netted us: Daniel Talia (13), Lewis Jetta (14), Daniel Menzel (17), Nat Fyfe (20), Jake Carlisle (24), Mitch Duncan (28), Jack Gunston (29), Max Gawn (34), Ben Stratton (46)
Players acquired during trade/drafts: 11
Players remaining: 2 (Casboult and White)
2010: picked Watson at 18. This selection could've netted us Isaac Smith (19), Cam Guthrie (23), Jack Darling (26), Luke Parker (40). At the rookie draft we took Curnow (18). Could've had Dahlhaus (22), Johanissen (39), McGovern (44).
Players acquired: 12
Players remaining: 1 (Curnow)
2011: selected Bootsma at 22. Could've had Seb Ross (25), Sam Kerridge (27), Elliott Yeo (30), Jackson Merrett (31), Joel Hamling (32), Brad Hill (33), Lachie Neale (58).
Players acquired: 7
Players remaining 2 (Rowe and Buckley)
2012: selected Menzel at 11 and Temay at 35. Could've had Mason Wood (41), Tim Membrey (46), Lachie Hunhter (49)
Players acquired: 4 (as far as I can tell, others were rookie elevations)
Players remaining: 1 (Graham)
2013: lost Betts and Laidler to FA. Acquired Thomas. Traded in Docherty for pick 33. Took Cripps at 13, Cameron Giles at 39. Could've had Barrass (43), Aliir Aliir (44), Riley Knight (46), Ben Brown (47), James Sicily (56), Mitch Honeychurch (60).
Players acquired: 11
Players remaining: 5 (Byrne, Sheehan, Cripps, Docherty, Thomas).
2014: lost Waite to FA, really ought to have got some compo, which the club was likely counting on. Traded in Jones for 46. Traded pick 7 for Jaksch, Whiley and 19. Could've had Paul Ahern (7), Peter Wright (8), Nakia Cockatoo or Jake Lever. Selected Boekhorst at 19, DVR at 28. Could've had Hugh Goddard (21), Touk Miller (29), Connor Menadue (33), Mitch McGovern (43), Caleb Daniel (46).
Players acquired: 12
Players remaining: 3 (Jaksch, Jones, Boekhorst)
Total players acquired during period: 69
Total players remaining: 14 (8-9 of which mightn't be on the list this time next year.
I understand and appreciate a lot of this is going over hold ground/flogging a dead horse, but it makes for no less telling reading. We simply didn't hit pay dirt with enough of our selections, which blew a hole right through our list.
There's a reason the Club is where it is. We drafted extremely poorly. We developed extremely poorly. As for the rather petulant calls to "show us your picks," we aren't professional recruiters paid to identify and forecast talent. Those that we were paying did a rather poor job of it, as the details above can attest.
Look at 2011-12. That is proof positive that we had no idea where our list had us placed for the now and future. Mismanagement of the highest order.