GREATER Western Sydney will not be spooked out of drafting driven young players who want early opportunities after the short-lived stays of Jackson Hately and Jye Caldwell.
Hately and Caldwell both left the Giants during the Trade Period in search of more opportunity at Adelaide and Essendon respectively after being in and out of the GWS midfield in their second seasons.
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Giants national recruiting manager Adrian Caruso said both had been driven players who wanted to play early, but the club had expected them to be "stayers".
He said GWS would not change its approach on Wednesday night after losing the pair.
"All the work we did at the time on those two boys was that they would be stayers – they would last the distance, fight for their spot, and work their way in and be long-term players," Carusa told the NAB AFL Draft Countdown Show.
"They were loyal kids with good values that we though would stick around.
"Obviously opportunities didn't present for them in their first two years and they were given options to leave and they took those options.
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"The driven ones want to play and you want them to have that drive. That's what Jye and Jacko had and that's why we picked them.
"We can't compromise again this year on those sorts of players."
Caruso said the Giants would need to back their culture to retain players while they were unable to break into the team consistently, rather than select players who were more likely to be content on the sidelines early.
"We want the driven competitive ones rather than picking guys who might hang around but we're actually not sure if they're good enough," he said.
"It just comes down to back our club and our culture.
"The players don't leave because they don't like the club. They leave because they want opportunity and we believe given what's gone out there's going to be opportunity."
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Caruso said the Giants would pick the best players available with selections No.10 and No.13, rather than target positional needs.
He confirmed versatile tall Nik Cox and defenders Zach Reid and Heath Chapman would be in the mix if still on the board.
"We've done a lot of work on those guys. What order we have them in, that's for us to know and you not to," he said.
"I don't think we should be reaching or targeting specific positions with our first or second pick.
"With those picks the philosophy has to be just pick the best players.
"We can always address the backline later in the Draft if we need to. And we have great confidence in the backs we have on our list."
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Meanwhile, Sydney recruiting and list manager Kinnear Beatson said the Swans were not able to commit to matching bids for both of their Academy young guns.
The Swans are confident a bid on midfielder/forward Braeden Campbell will come after their pick No.3, at which point they will be in a position to match.
An early bid on hard-working midfielder Errol Gulden could be problematic, however, if matching was going to send the Swans into a points deficit in 2021.
"It's fair to say we'd like to have both boys on our list," Beatson told the NAB AFL Draft Countdown Show.
"But we do have to be mindful about what impact it will have on the 2021 Draft.
"I think we'll be OK, but we've got the bases covered if that's not the case and we will have been through the scenarios of hat we're going to do with the ifs and buts when they occur.
"You would like to think both end up on our list, but it clearly isn't a given."