As i just posted in another thread somewhere Suity, we need to acknowledge that signing players has NEVER worked for us.
And I just disagreed it with it another thread. IMO we would never have won a premiership without recruitment (I named 3 players and you might well include J Gibson in that lot)
Recruitment was a key to us getting out of the doldrums of the 1990's - when we recruited the core of the 4 Bulldogs plus Raper Freemand and Ritson we had success (at least when we recruited an outside coach to add to the mix. The idea of using ex players as in-house coaches was an unmitigated disaster in the 1990s)
And when we hit another slump in the mid 2000's the only way we arrested the slide was an influx of talent. Are you seriously suggesting that the minor premiership in 2005 was not a result of the drive that saw Tahu Riddell Morrison added to the roster?
Then 2006 saw NO recruitment ... and what do you get? After 1986 to late 90's was our least active recruitment period ... we had no success.
Not only that but the cream of the local juniors did not reach the heights expected.
If you guys think there are wraps on the Haynes and Inus of this world, you weren't around when David Penna, Jason Bell, Michael Erickson and Scott Mahon were coming through the ranks...
