How times change
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/eye-of-tiger-for-talent-20120608-201nu.html"Richmond pro scout Blair Hartley’s other successes include (from left) Bachar Houli, Steven Morris and Shaun Grigg. Photo: Sebastian Costanzo
Right now,
the poster boy for pro scouting is Richmond list analyser Blair Hartley. Having started his AFL journey at Essendon as a back-room operator and forward scout, he advanced to the position as head recruiter at Port Adelaide, all at the relatively tender age of 25.
Richmond then came calling, giving Hartley the imprimatur to forensically dissect the Tigers' list, identify the shortcomings and then scour the other [then] 16 clubs to determine whether the holes could be filled without paying a king's ransom or using prized first-round draft picks."