The new guy has done more than you think, a playmaker has been am issue no doubt about it but has pushed Zac clay 18 months early into our system to try and fast track his development.. We have Troy Dargon and mick Doolan who are extremely talented currently playing in our ball squad and has picked up young bevan French who was well sort after by several clubs and can easily play in 3 of the 4 spine positions
We did lose Mitch Moses but like Hastings they were destined to play for the clubs where their father and uncle were legends... Infact we couldn't do anymore than what we did to keep Moses but uncle Ben had other plans for him
As a Junior Club Official, I went to a PDJRL meeting earlier in the season, where the junior Recruitment guy from the eels (Reports to Nolan - cant for the life of me remember his name) addressed the clubs.
He basically told us all the place was an absolute shambles, in terms of identification & recruitment of Juniors from our clubs - He too came from the Broncos, and it took him a full season just to sort out the true mess that it was in.
He now has a team & system in place to identify jr talent from as low as Under 12/13s...I witnessed Talent ID scouts about 2-3 times throughout the season - and this was at a small club which featured only Div 3/4 Teams....so they're casting the net far & wide - and not just looking at big clubs like Cabra, Wenty, Hills etc.
Apparently these scouts take a report back to him - and they're entered into a DB - when names continually get flagged, he then goes & checks the player out a few times....& so on & so forth. So I am of the belief that they are being proactive in the Jr Talent Id now.
I have heard from various sources in the Jr League - In terms of production of Halves - until we introduce a system similar to Qlds - our halves development will never be as good as theirs - our halves are restricted from an early age to having to catch & pass (as the rules up to under 12's? is that there has to be 2 passes)
Qld system, I am lead to believe, allows for a team to identify the halfback (by way of an armband) which allows them to run freely - although I am not an expert on this - so maybe someone can shed more light?