History shows you don't need to do a North and be bottom 2 for half a decade to stockpile talent, but it does show high end drafted talent is part of every premiership team. In the last 20 years, WCE of 2018 are really the only exception to needing top 10 players drafted onto your list as part of the premiership reciepe. So you could argue without top 10 players you have a 1/20 chance to win a premiership, and that 1/20 has traded in top 10 drafted player. WCE being the exception of no top 10 player drafted into a premiership team had 2 x pick 11s, 1 x pick 13 and 2 top 10 players injured in Nic Nat and Gaff for the GF. So the exception to the rule of needing to draft in top 10 players to create a premiership side has a large asterix on it.
Examples:
Cats era had Bartel (
, Mackie (7), Selwood (7)
Hawks era had Buddy (5), Rough (2), Hodge (1)
Dogs Bont (4), Macrae (6)
Eagles Duggan (11), Sheed (11), Hurn (13) but traded in Kennedy (3) plus Darling (26) should have been pick 1-5 if he didn't have his off field issue pre draft.
Tigers had Martin (3), Cotchin (2), Vlastuin (9)
Dees Petrecca, Oliver, Salem
Cats Selwood (7), drafted in top 10 talent in Dangerfield (10), Rohan (6) and Cameron who would have been top 10 if he wasn't a pre selection by GWS.
Pies had Daicos (2), De Goey (5)
This is not to say we should finish last and tank all our games to get access to the best possible pick, as we will get a top 10 pick next year anyway, at worst pick 3. So you could argue it's negilible, however I like the idea of giving the most access to the pool of talent possible to increase the chances of nailing that top 10 player which is so important to our future success.