Doesn't necessarily have to be draft picks. I'd be rapt if we could somehow wangle a high-quality player from another club, rather than cast-offs. Get me a multiple B & F winner in Luke Parker, for instance, ahead of a VFL player.Poor recruiting, coaching and list management over the past decade have proved that doesn’t work for North.
“Give us more high draft picks” is the equivalent of tipping in more good money in after bad.
What happens if you get gifted more picks and they also end up failing?
Also, it doesn't have to be "gifting picks", bearing in mind that only two of the five first-rounders last year were anything to do with priority picks - the rest were from the JHF deal and losing a high-quality CHB who is being paid $1.2 million this year. Picks get traded like confetti these days, so some astute dealing (which, again, is something we've been reasonable at lately - it's the contract offers that have sucked) could get us up the draft order with our second and third pick.
But as for tipping in more good money after bad in drafting, actually we've been vastly better at drafting than trading. Our B & F was won by a first-year player last year, and the rest of the top ten went: pick 73, pick 49, pick 4, pick 9, pick 8, pick 21, rookie draft, SSP, pick 12. So that's six first-round selections, and only one brought in from another club.
The best of the mature recruits was Liam Shiels in 9th. The others were Howe (33rd), Tucker (24th) and Logue (17th).
And even Logue was only 12th when injured. FWIW, Tucker was one place behind George Wardlaw, despite playing 18 games to Wardlaw's 8.
As for the "what if they fail?" argument. Well, yeah, not every draft pick works, that's part of the deal. But I thnk we could gett a long way by redefining what success is. Everyone is shitting on Will Phillips for not being a star, but if he becomes one of those solid role players who plays 150 solid games, I think that's a win for us. Luke McDonald cops a lot of flak because he's no world-beater, but if you'd said on draft night ten years ago that the guy chosen at pick 8 goes on to play 200 games, win a B & F and captain the club, you'd take that in a heartbeat.
Will Riley Hardeman be an All-Australian? Probably not. Will Zane Duursma kick 50 goals in a year? Maybe. But the more elite players we have in the door, the better chance we'll have of getting out of this mess.