Someone commented over at CSC about how good brisbanes kids looked and asked about the draft picks (as opposed to player development) - below is a list of all the draft picks by brisbane since 2000 that have played THIS year

adcock - 33 - 2003*
attard - 50 - 2004
brennan - 3 - 2003
copeland - 2001 - rookie list (zone selection)*
corrie - 2002 - 44*
drummond - 2003 rookie list (elevated 2005)*
logan - 49 - 2003
J. mcdonald - 2002 - rookie list (zone selection)*
mcgrath - 13 - 2000*
mclaren - 9 - 2000 PSD*
merret - 30 - 2002*
moody - 23 - 2003
rischetelli - 61 - 2003
ryswick - 2003/4? (rookie elevations)
selwood - 19 - 2002*
sherman - 45 - 2004*
spaandarman - 18 - 2003
wood - 18 - 2004

Of that list there are 5 players that were top 20 picks since 2000, 3 of which have played just 1 game - brennan, spaandarman, wood). Only one of those top 20 picks was in the top 10 (pick 3).

Of the players that played against carlton (*), there were
- 4 of were top 40 picks (13, 19, 30, 33) - ie 1st/2nd round picks
- 2 picks 40s (44, 45) - ie 3rd round picks
- 3 rookie listed players
- 1 PSD draft pick

Basically Brisbane have identified talant and developed it well (probably helped that they could sit kids in ressies until they were ready in previous years). Which brings me to question, what is our talent identification/development like? Of the 18 players listed, only 5 of them could not have been picked up due to the draft penalties - the rest of the players were available to carlton/pagan (whilst he was at north).

Obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing but it does give some food for thought