CARLTON has stood firm in its commitment to take the best available talent with the Blues spending their first two picks at the 2010 NAB AFL Rookie Draft on mid-sized prospects.
The rookie draft started out in similar fashion to the national selection meeting where the club overlooked highly-touted tall prospects to snap up silky-skilled midfielder Kane Lucas when he surprisingly fell to them at pick 12.
The club's recruiting staff came under fire following the national draft for failing to address a perceived lack of key-position depth, but national recruiting manager Wayne Hughes stuck to his guns in selecting inside midfielder Jaryd Cachia and half-back flanker Joe Dare with his first two selections on Tuesday.
Speaking after the rookie selection meeting, Hughes maintained the reaction from outside the club to its national draft strategy had not influenced his thinking this time around.
"It's about getting as many good players to the club as you can - we've always said that," Hughes said. "Obviously once Brendan [Fevola] left I suppose everyone presumed 'okay you need to replace Brendan'.
"If we'd had a year to think about that it might have been a little bit easier to come up with, but it had only been [a matter of] weeks so we can't go back and revisit all the work we've done just because a certain type of player has left.
"We clearly thought Jaryd was a player that could have been taken in the national draft so we were happy that he was available. Joey is quite a nice size at 188cm and he played as a key defender in the TAC Cup, but we think he can play on a bit of a mixture [of players]."
Hughes' words were echoed by the Blues' first-choice full-back Michael Jamison recently when he publicly backed the club's rationale in the face of criticism in the media.
"I think people sometimes get stuck on an idea and they just run with it," Jamison said.
"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't heard any of that stuff. You do hear it, but I think the recruiters are the ones who are the most qualified to make those decisions.
"When you look at it there's Mark Austin, Jarrad Waite, Bret Thornton, Paul Bower and me and we can all match up on different sized players. I think that makes us pretty flexible and I really think we've got plenty of taller options.
"For me I think it shows the faith that the club and the recruiting staff have in the talls that we have at the moment."
Hughes was more than satisfied that the club's tall stocks had been adequately replenished with his next three rookie selections.
Dandenong Stingrays tall forward Levi Casboult, Subiaco's Simon White and Josh Donaldson from West Perth all stand 190cm or over with Casboult an imposing 198cm.
"Donaldson and Casboult are both really good key-position players [to be given] rookie opportunities. It's just the way it's panned out and that's fine," he said.
"I reckon if you add in Brock [McLean] and young Lachie Henderson with our national and rookie draft, we've got a really nice mix of shapes and sizes coming in.
"They're all quality people and all will bring different characteristics to our footy club and help our group grow. We're really pleased overall."
