The Demons must decide who will be the first player taken in this year's NAB AFL Draft and, having been faced with that task for the past three years, the Blues' recruiting chief knows full well what a massive undertaking that is.
Will it be Jack Watts or Nick Naitanui? Tyrone Vickery or Daniel Rich? Whichever way they go, hundreds of hours will have been spent poring over match vision, interview tape and other reference material in an effort to make the right choice because the outcome will have a profound effect on the club, one way or another, for years to come.
"I think picking at one is probably the toughest thing you'll ever have to do in this job because you obviously only get one go at it in each draft and you've just got to get it right," Hughes says.
"I've said it many times, but you just don't get to change your mind; I'd certainly rather be picking at six than one – it's a pretty good field this year.
"I certainly feel for the Melbourne people with what they'd be going through to work out who they're actually going to select."
Carlton picked Marc Murphy, Bryce Gibbs and Matthew Kreuzer first overall in the past three drafts after an exhaustive process that began months before the actual draft meeting.
Hughes won't be drawn on how he thinks this first round will play out, but agrees there are some rich pickings to be had at the top end of the last draft before the onset of concessions granted to the new Gold Coast club.
"I think like most years there's probably eight or nine players that stand out in the first round and there are good players after that until about probably around picks 25 to 30," he says.
"I would have thought that all clubs will get a really good player in the first round, and then it really depends on what you're looking for and how you've gone with your first-round pick in relation to what you thought you might get and what you actually did get.
"I think you'll find that all clubs – maybe the order might be slightly different here and there – but I think we'll all go in with about the same 45 to 50-odd players in mind. Obviously we'll go in with lists a lot longer than that, but that nucleus of the first couple of rounds at least will be about the same."
The significance of his actions on draft day isn't lost on Hughes, with the lives of those players whose names he calls changed forever.
With all the twists, turns and surprises that regularly occur on the biggest day on a recruiter's calendar, Hughes and his team must be ready for every eventuality.
"It just makes you realise how much you need to prepare," he says.
"It's interesting that the people who sit up the front of the room get bored with how long it takes, but we get two minutes with an option for a bit extra to decide on somebody's life. It's certainly extremely important and, as all other clubs will be, we'll be well-prepared.
"It's interesting, in other sports you can get up to 15 or 20 minutes to make a decision. We make a decision from watching a player 15 to 20 times and then we get two minutes to make a decision, which is amazing when you consider how important that is to someone's life.
"I'm sure on the day we won't be panicking. You've just got to leave your options open and go in well-prepared with our list and see what evolves."
