CARLTON has made a key change to its recruiting department with Shane Rogers succeeding long-serving national recruiting manager Wayne Hughes in the top job.

Rogers gained AFL recruiting experience with Fremantle before switching to Carlton ahead of the 2007 season.

Hughes had been the club's chief recruiter since 2004 and oversaw the Blues' run of three successive No.1 draft picks that netted star players Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs and Matthew Kreuzer from 2005 to 2007.

He will remain with Carlton as recruiting manager, which football manager Andrew McKay said was an excellent result for the club.

"We really value both guys and we wanted to set up a bit of a succession plan," McKay said on Wednesday.

"We wanted to keep both with us and there has been a bit of interest in Shane from other clubs, so we thought it would be best if we could promote Shane's role.

"They'll still continue to work together to identify the best talent for us to try and go after in the draft. The roles won't change a whole lot except Shane will now have the final say."

McKay said the move was not the precursor to a dramatic shift in recruiting philosophy at the club, but he did foreshadow some tinkering with the Blues' talent-spotting structure at the grassroots level.