Originally posted by bigman
I can assure you it is often the coach. A number of years ago Adelaide picked Eugene Warrior, because the coach at the time wanted "some black magic" after the game played by Michael Long for Essendon in the 1993 Grand Final.
Please do not pass on all of the buck to the recruiting department. They can only offer names and in the end it is the coach and the match committee that decide on the way in which the club drafts. In 2002 for example there were many good names around, but we decided on capitalizing on our maturing list, by getting Carey, Begley, Torney and of course Burns. It did not produce a premiership, but it was proabably worth the risk. WE would all be laughing now if it worked and saying what Einsteins the AFC were.
We need to realise after all that we have made the semi- finals in the last two years.
Our recruiting changed direction this year after the Carey experiment clearly showed it was not going to be as successful as first thought. it looks as though we have recruited quite well - Watts, Kreuger, Hudson, Andrews and with an eye for creating a spine for the future.
Lets also not forget we recruited Jericho at number 32 in the 2003 draft with our first pick at number 32 and that we picked up Hentschell in the pre-season draft earlier that year. A good effort I would suggest.
Lets not implode like the poor teams from Victoria. We have made some errors, but it is difficult to always be right when there are so many factors at work when selecting players. We are now on the right track and looking at the long term future. Without a good spine you are knackered.