That's all well and good, until your club can't produce quality footballers in key positions. In comparison to other clubs, we have a very small junior zone to work with, a quarter of the size of your example of Penrith. What is Penrith's reward for developing talent?
Recruiting doesn't always have to be established stars, it can be the next big thing in between established player and jersey flegg, which is a much cheaper option but very tricky to get right because it's not an exact science like recruiting an established star.
I'm not just talking about local juniors though, clubs are recruiting SG ball players from interstate these days and that's what we need to be doing and constantly ontop of.
You bring up the issue of not having key players coming through, well if that' the case then there's a problem within the recruitment and development system that needs to be addressed.
We should always aim to try and get the best kids possible in each and every position no matter who is in the firstgrade squad. Obviously you can't always get the best, but if clubs are doing a good job then things should even themselves out.
You might not have a gun half coming through for a year or two but you have a couple of good young forwards and a winger, that should be enough to fill gaps in your roster and potentially move on a big name so you can then reinvest it into the halves where your lacking. Obviously it won't always work out as well as that, but that should always be the aim to give the club the best chance possible to be successful in the present and the future.
