Point 1: So he's supposed to purely embrace the draft and throw the kids to the wolves without bringing in any mature talent? That would be a sure fire way for the kids to not end up reaching their full potential. He has taken a hybrid approach by bringing in a lot of kids through the draft but also added some experience to the list to help the kids develop. Furthermore, by doing so, he filled an age bracket that we were devoid of. Guys like Marchbank, Pickett, Plowman, Sumner all have lots of potential and will be given every chance to succeed.
Point 2: He has brought in 14 players through the draft in the last 2 years (Weitering, McKay, Curnow, Cuningham, Silvagni, Glass-McKasker, Gallucci, Petrevski-Seton, Fisher, Macreadie, Polson, Williamson, Kerr, LeBois). I hardly call that not backing in the recruiting staff. That's a huge list turnover utilizing the draft and recruiting team.
Point 3: He got rid of conditional guys like Menzel and Yarran (both failed to play a game for their respective clubs in 2016 with one now out of the AFL system completely) whilst bringing in high draft picks for both. He also found a way of turning Tuohy into Marchbank and Pickett after he told Geelong that they could trade their first round pick this year which most clubs were unaware of (since they had already traded their firsts in previous years). Once again on face value this is a win for Carlton.
Point 4: He didn't cave to the Crows and accept what we deemed unders for a player of his caliber. He will likely re-visit a trade to the Crows at the end of 2017 and receive a high pick in a draft which is considered strong for key position players. Which means he retains the services of one of our best players and leaders for at least another year, in which he looms as playing an important role to help facilitate the further growth of our new influx of midfielders.
Summary: It's still too early to judge what he has done after only 2 seasons as list manager. However, on face value it appears he has given us every chance to succeed and has drafted in the core of our future. There is much hope with Weitering, McKay, Curnow, Cuningham, Silvagni, Petrevski-Seton, Fisher, Macreadie, Marchbank, Plowman, Pickett and LeBois especially. That's a huge influx of young talent over a two year period. I would suggest that's more than any other club in the competition. He's not just sitting around doing nothing, he's being active and facilitating change to a list that badly needed it. The other guys like Kerridge, Wright, Phillips, etc. serve a role of helping the younger kids develop. Any 'recycled' player he has brought in has cost us very little. This whole notion of Silvagni only bringing in recycled players is absolute rubbish. I suggest people do a little more research when building a case.