I think it's important to remember that coaching is more important than cattle in the modern game.
If you look at Melbourne, Souths, Roosters, Bulldogs and co. they all have really good coaches. Players that come into their systems, excel and become household names/marquee players. Every club has players coming through with skill, size, speed, etc. it's just up to the coaches to put good structures in place to allow the talent to prosper. Occasionally when there is a deficiency in a certain area and the junior ranks are offering no cover, you buy a player, but all in all it's down to the coaching.
In the semi-professional era when players were only training twice a week and the game lacked genuine structure, the gap between the elite and the also-rans was much wider. In the professional era of full time training, structure and conditioning, potential exists in every club in the competition; it just has to be tapped.
I often hear the argument, "look at the players he has" in reference to certain coaches, but they are great players because of the way they have been developed and/or used.
DCE was nobody playing in the QLD cup, and then stepped into our ranks and took his game to another level. He came into good systems and the obvious talent was allowed to grow and all of the sudden he is a superstar. I remember Armageddon when Hodkinson signed with the Dogs, and then up steps DCE. It will happen again because we're Manly, and we have a good coach that can bring talent through.
