Saints to appoint Wayne Hughes to Recruiting Department

[White Winmar]

Don't know that I'm over the moon about this one. I guess we'll have to wait and see. From The Age tonight.

"St Kilda are expected to hire former Carlton recruiting boss Wayne Hughes in a new role overseeing the club's recruiting of seasoned players.

Hughes, who worked at St Kilda in the late 1980s and early '90s in recruiting, is close to being appointed to a role as the club's "pro-scout" in which he will assess potential free agents and other AFL-listed players.

The imminent appointment is part of a revamp of St Kilda's recruiting department, which will also add another full-time scout who focuses entirely on junior, untried talent – the vast majority of draftees – for the 2015 season.

Hughes was head of recruiting at Carlton for several years until 2011, before the Blues promoted his understudy Shane Rogers to the head job after the 2011 national draft, retaining Hughes in recruiting until he was made redundant early in the 2014 season.

The hiring of a "pro-scout" recruiter focused on seasoned talent – such as those AFL-listed players in the VFL, the WAFL and the other second-tier competitions – is a recognition by the Saints that they will need to recruit more players with AFL experience in the coming years.

The Saints have been open about their intention to prioritise untried kids from the national draft in the early phase of their rebuilding, and that they would not pursue expensive free agents or highly sought AFL recruits until after they had brought in a certain number of youngsters and had the foundations in place.

The Saints' focus on the national draft and on improving their base of young talent has seen them trade or relinquish a number of experienced players, including Nick Dal Santo and Ben McEvoy last year and Rhys Stanley this year, with Brendon Goddard leaving as a free agent after 2012.

The loss of so much experience means the Saints will have close to the competition's lowest player payments next year, affording them significant space to pursue recruits from other clubs, if they wish. The role of pro-scout is becoming more commonplace in the AFL, as clubs recognise that greater movement of players – caused in part by free agency – means there is a need for more rigorous assessments of proven talent.

Hughes had also worked at Fremantle in recruiting prior to joining the Blues, whose drafting and trading have been heavily scrutinised in recent years. St Kilda made another late addition to their 2015 coaching panel, appointing former Carlton player Rohan Welsh as defensive coach.

Welsh was replaced as coach of the VFL's Casey Scorpions at the end of the season. Welsh, 44, played 43 games with Carlton between 1992 and 1997, and was part of the Blues' grand final side that lost to Essendon.

It has been a year of significant change in the Saints' football department, headlined by the appointment of Jamie Cox as football manager after the departure of Chris Pelchen. The Saints had also appointed development coach Peta Searle, part-time defensive coach Danny Frawley and part-time ruck coach Adam Skrobalak while promoting Ameet Bains to chief operating officer, Danny Sexton to director of coaching and Simon McPhee the head of its academy. "

[Moods]

Very strange appointment. Carlton one of the worst if not THE worst at drafting and recruiting in the last 15 years

[White Winmar]

Very strange appointment. Carlton one of the worst if not THE worst at drafting and recruiting in the last 15 years

I was thinking the same thing, Moods. Had a stint with us in the 80's as well, which is enough to put a shiver down the back of any saints' fan.

[plugger66]

yep met the guy many years ago with Bevo. Doesn't inspire me with confidence.

[Viking3]

He was my Under 16's coach in 1980.

[Enrico_Misso]

Was Wayne the genius who recruited Luke Livingstone?

[Jacks Back]

On the other hand maybe we can use his expertise in NOT picking any of his recommendations.

[St Ick]

Well the role will be as a pro-scout, which is a brand new way of thinking in recruitment at afl clubs.

Trout and the existing staff are all over the kids and killing it. It's a new role, maybe he had a lot to do with getting Judd on board (in addition to the Visy contracts) - who knows, but I have faith we are recruiting the right guys for the right roles.

[chook23]

Well the role will be as a pro-scout, which is a brand new way of thinking in recruitment at afl clubs.

Trout and the existing staff are all over the kids and killing it. It's a new role, maybe he had a lot to do with getting Judd on board (in addition to the Visy contracts) - who knows, but I have faith we are recruiting the right guys for the right roles.

We are also looking at appointing a full time scout ......just for the kids / untried

I mentioned in another post Con may not like where this person is coming from.....

but I am sure the person will be in CONTROL of the situation.

[Teflon]

I do worry the very closeted AFL world sees funds recycled...
Carlton have been deplorable...... getting the right experienced talent in to compliment a young talented list is so vital - why not focus cash /efforts on Hawks and Swans who do this so well....??

Carlton FFs?

[bergholt]

"The loss of so much experience means the Saints will have close to the competition's lowest player payments next year, affording them significant space to pursue recruits from other clubs, if they wish."

Not surprising but good to know nonetheless. Let's just hope we make the right decisions there.

[jonesy]

So far finniss backed the wrong government, appointed a cricketer to run the football department, got rid of pelican in peculiar circumstances, backed us to go against the grain with the obvious no 1 draft choice for a 1980s full forward, and now he's put the worst recruiter of the modern era in charge of recruiting.

He gives good corporate speeches but...

[BringBackMadDog]

So far finniss backed the wrong government, appointed a cricketer to run the football department, got rid of pelican in peculiar circumstances, backed us to go against the grain with the obvious no 1 draft choice for a 1980s full forward, and now he's put the worst recruiter of the modern era in charge of recruiting.

He gives good corporate speeches but...

I know it's Xmas but I have to say, what a load of bollocks. How do you pin this on Finniss., he didn't back the wrong party, he backed the party that committed to us, he appointed a person to manage our elite performance team because that's what Cox does, plus Cox Was also a decent footballer. No one knows why Pelchin was released but this has also happened at a few other clubs so I'll back the club on this one, and I'm sure Finniss had nothing to do with the recruiting of McCartin, he's the CEO and not the recruiting boss.
However, I will give Finiss credit for getting our memebersh to its highest level ever by Xmas, improving the communication between members and club, giving far better access to the playing group, improving the vibe around the club. This is what he gets paid to do as our CEO and is doing a fantastic job of

[sainters85]

So far finniss backed the wrong government, appointed a cricketer to run the football department, got rid of pelican in peculiar circumstances, backed us to go against the grain with the obvious no 1 draft choice for a 1980s full forward, and now he's put the worst recruiter of the modern era in charge of recruiting.

He gives good corporate speeches but...

I would have to agree with most of your points but I think Cox will be a good fit as he is from an elite sporting background.. no idea why the pelican was sacked.. no idea why we didnt pick petracca over mccartin.. Mccartin will be a very good player but Petracca would be heaps better, hopefully I'm proved wrong tho

[Dr Spaceman]

Agree, an extraordinary outburst by Mr Jones.

Ah well, back to Christmas festivities.

[Con Gorozidis]

Carlton had 14 top 20 picks in his time and are still crap - so very dubious on this Hughes bloke.
Worst strike rate in AFL/VFL history.

[Con Gorozidis]

yep met the guy many years ago with Bevo. Doesn't inspire me with confidence.

Here we go again. Name dropping again. Look at me. Look at me.
If someone like you is in any way connected to the inner sanctum at the club - the club really is a 4th rate suburban joke doomed for failure.
Thankfully I know you are full of crap.

As for Bevo well his 'performance' from 04-10 leads us to where we are right now. 18th from 18.

[Wayne42]

yep met the guy many years ago with Bevo. Doesn't inspire me with confidence.

Here we go again. Name dropping again. Look at me. Look at me.
If someone like you is in any way connected to the inner sanctum at the club - the club really is a 4th rate suburban joke doomed for failure.
Thankfully I know you are full of crap.

As for Bevo well his 'performance' from 04-10 leads us to where we are right now. 18th from 18.

[kosifantutti]

Well the role will be as a pro-scout, which is a brand new way of thinking in recruitment at afl clubs.

Trout and the existing staff are all over the kids and killing it. It's a new role, maybe he had a lot to do with getting Judd on board (in addition to the Visy contracts) - who knows, but I have faith we are recruiting the right guys for the right roles.

We are also looking at appointing a full time scout ......just for the kids / untried

I mentioned in another post Con may not like where this person is coming from.....

but I am sure the person will be in CONTROL of the situation.

A bit cryptic for me. Are we getting Maxwell Smart? Did Con want someone from KAOS?

[chook23]

Well the role will be as a pro-scout, which is a brand new way of thinking in recruitment at afl clubs.

Trout and the existing staff are all over the kids and killing it. It's a new role, maybe he had a lot to do with getting Judd on board (in addition to the Visy contracts) - who knows, but I have faith we are recruiting the right guys for the right roles.

We are also looking at appointing a full time scout ......just for the kids / untried

I mentioned in another post Con may not like where this person is coming from.....

but I am sure the person will be in CONTROL of the situation.

A bit cryptic for me. Are we getting Maxwell Smart? Did Con want someone from KAOS?

Part of your question is very warm.

[WinnersOnly]

I think it was obvious Pelchin was getting very well paid and the club thought they could fill a number of roles with the same money! Pelchin had sorted out the TPP and set up a solid recruitment plan so I guess he had become expendable.

I am amused by the Hughes appointment as he hardly has a sucessful recruiting history! Surely the current recruitment team can monitor the oppositions and state league players without another recruiter - but obviously Bains & Elshaugh think there is players slipping through? Time will tell I suppose!

[Zed]

So far finniss backed the wrong government, appointed a cricketer to run the football department, got rid of pelican in peculiar circumstances, backed us to go against the grain with the obvious no 1 draft choice for a 1980s full forward, and now he's put the worst recruiter of the modern era in charge of recruiting.

He gives good corporate speeches but...

I know it's Xmas but I have to say, what a load of bollocks. How do you pin this on Finniss., he didn't back the wrong party, he backed the party that committed to us, he appointed a person to manage our elite performance team because that's what Cox does, plus Cox Was also a decent footballer. No one knows why Pelchin was released but this has also happened at a few other clubs so I'll back the club on this one, and I'm sure Finniss had nothing to do with the recruiting of McCartin, he's the CEO and not the recruiting boss.
However, I will give Finiss credit for getting our memebersh to its highest level ever by Xmas, improving the communication between members and club, giving far better access to the playing group, improving the vibe around the club. This is what he gets paid to do as our CEO and is doing a fantastic job of

I reckon you can put a positive spin on just about all our decisions/ appointments of the last 3 months, but I have yet to read anywhere why this Hughes fella from Carlton is a good fit for the job. I don't kno who at the club was involved in the appointment , but you would hope it was a reasonably structured and governed process and certain criteria had to be met.

Just would like to hear some of the highlights in this guys track record that might give us some reassurance that we aren't going to be chasing mature age duds just because this guy has recommended them.

[Zed]

Actually if you read carltons recruiting and trading record for the 5 years prior to 2011 ie when he was in charge, it is frighteningly bad - especially some of those trades for 'experienced' players .. Which our 'pro-scout' will be making recommendations on.

[cwrcyn]

Why would you need to employ a separate person to look into free agency players? Seems like a massive waste of money for a club strapped for cash. Hell. it should be pretty damn obvious who's available and who's worth pursuing. Surely Tony Elshaug could have fitted this into his role.

[HitTheBoundary]

Why would you need to employ a separate person to look into free agency players? Seems like a massive waste of money for a club strapped for cash. Hell. it should be pretty damn obvious who's available and who's worth pursuing. Surely Tony Elshaug could have fitted this into his role.

If this is his job (and I'm not really sure what his job is) then as you say the identification of talent of existing players is easy.
So perhaps Hughes real job will be more dealing with the player managers, and seeing who is really available and for how much etc.
So less an identification of talent but more backroom wheeling and dealing to get people to come, rather than just saying "Sloane is a good player".