Has the game really changed that much in 30 years in terms of what makes a good footballer?
our 1980 premiership side had 6 players 180cm and under.
We won 4 flags from 1967-74 with a CHF who was the same size as Dusty Martin. Royce and Dusty both had/have a playing height/weight of 187cm/86kg. So I would say yes footy has changed in terms of body-size. In any case the 6 players off the top of my head in 1980 were KB, Flea, Raines, Rowlings, Wiley and Malthouse. A fair bit of difference in top quality in that group compared to Foley, Kingy, Nahas, Whitey and Webberley 
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I'm not saying al we can't have any sub-6 footers but IMO they need to have elite attributes (freakish speed and skill) and given the state of our list they are pocket/flanker types which are the last pieces of the puzzle. We still need build up a deep core group of quality midfielders behind Cotch and Dusty to become a side capable of not only making September but going all the way.
fully agree about the quality issue, in that an average larger bodied player still has something to fall back on, his size.
I think there will always be a place for smaller players in the game as you need a mix of player types and we dont have any real quality when it come to that player type so i dont have a problem with trying to bring in more in an attempt to get that quality.
sometimes i just get the feeling that some people would just disregard players based solely on their size, yet all of those players you listed were good enough that they would still get a game today
actually the 6th player i was thinking of was freames (sp) so malthouse makes 7
