
Hitting the draft is no guarantee of success.
Look at the list of number 1 draft picks from 2008 to 2014:
Watts
Scully
Swallow
Patton
Whitfield
Boyd
McCartin
Hardly an inspiring list. Whitfield is really the only one anyone would sell the farm for with the benefit of hindsight.
I’m not saying you need to finish last every year, just saying use more picks than Hawthorn have been.
Lack of using picks of any kind in the top 40 and trading them away has lead to a lesser collection of young talent in the list than anyone else. (give or take one or two others)