All the other clubs picking up AFL players or those that have been on an AFL list
Nietschke, Melbourne,
Reeves, Gold Coast,
Beuchner, captain of Clarence,
McCormack, Frankston in the VFL,
the lad from The Riverina is a bit of an unknown but he's young & a big bloke & we desperately need big blokes,
pretty good recruiting I would say (so far)
The AFL isn't the be all and end all you know,
didn't work for Norwood,
didn't work for South,
Phillips, McGuiness. Newton, Cachia, Batsanis etc might suggest otherwise. That said, I don't disagree with your point. A lot of fringe AFL players don't amount to much at State League level, and plenty of players from country leagues or other state leagues have and will succeed at SANFL level.
I'm referring to more recent years,
As always it's a mixture of several components. Clubs like yours and mine in recent seasons have had to start all over again and the first step is building that foundation that can grow together, adding established talent that are the right fit along the way where possible.