There was only one mistake with the Judd deal and that was throwing Kennedy in with picks 3 & 20.

We should have held fast at picks 3 & 20 but we blinked.

Ablett went to Gold Coast for Picks 10 & 15.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Ablett was an uncontracted signing, not a trade...

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

Ablett's move to GC wasn't a trade. As it was the AFL dudded the Cats massively with the compensation.

If we'd finished bottom in 2007 we'd have held all the cards and could be as aggressive as many wanted us to be.

As it was Richmond still had pick 1 in the pre-season draft and had Judd departed the Eagles for nowt - i can't imagine the Eagles would've allowed that, nor would Judd have left in such circumstances - Richmond would've gladly met any and all demands.

The issue is, had we screwed the Eagles over we'd have entered Collingwood and Essendon* territory in terms of trading. No one would want to deal with us and would hold a grudge over the fact we got a 'bargain' with Judd. Everyone would want their pound of flesh in negotiating with us and the conversation would always go back to,"yeah, but you screwed the Eagles."

We had to do the right thing and we did. Fair trade for all involved, really.

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Whatever happened to this club
I wish I understood
We used to be so strong
We used to be so good

They wanted Kennedy we wanted to give them Bower. that was the sticking point.

this is what has RUNIED our great club, our recruiting and trades has stuffed the club completely.We can only hope sos can get it right this year and next.

Hawthorn have had busts, every club does. Its the percentage of bad draft picks we have which is bad.

Also only focusing on Hawthorn's drafting since 07 neglects the great trading they have done in getting Gunston, Burgoyne, Gibson, Hale, Lake and Frawley.

What we have done well since 08 is a handful of things at best (Hendo, Cripps, Everett, Docherty, Menzel (though everyone else would have done it).

As maligned as he was/is getting Mitch Robinson at pick 40 was good. 100 games out of a 3rd rounder has to be a win.

Actually, looking at some of the woeful dud trades we've done over the years I am surprised more clubs don't beat a path to our door. We've become the new Fremantle at the trade table (Fremantle have turned their bad trade ability around BTW, I am speaking about their early trading years of McLeod/Croad etc)

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

Our recruiting manager said he rated him in the top 10 that year so its lucky we didn't have another top 10.

Mitch Robinson was and still is just a good suburban/bush league player.

and who looked after their recruiting then?

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Gunston was gifted to them due to circumstance TICK
Could have got Nat Fyfe for the Burgoyne pick.
Lake was basically free! TICK
Could have picked up Luke Parker with the Hale pick.
Frawley was a free agent.

IDIOTS.

I'm a hindsight recruiting genius.

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dane's trolling again

He has gone a bit spiv-ish for me of late.

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dane's trolling again

Agree and Three Premierships proves it. In the end that's all that matters. They all make mistakes but sides like Hawthorn get more right than wrong and when they get it wrong they move on quickly to correct. We seem to hang onto bad players and give them good contracts.

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#NewBlues beginning 25th August 2015

Could have been 200.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

We've only operated true to form. Billionaires don't waste their time developing talent for their businesses, they simply acquire the best available talent they can buy.

Rubbish generalisation

I've worked for billionaires.

They get to where they are because they build talent. They recognise you need talent around you.

Not sure anyone needed to say it

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T E A M

cough*

Was it Garlett for Foster or Garlett for Smith?
Also if we are serious about fixing our culture, trading Garlett was a good move

The point being made was the commensurate value of picks 3 & 20 and 10 & 15.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill