Hawthorn showed from 1983 to 1991 that you can stay at the top for a long time if you can get the balance right. They averaged 4 new faces in each of their five premierships in that period. Melbourne were the same from 1954 to 1960.
Much bigger lists n less teams in the comp back then so fairly irrelevant comparison.
Moggies, Dawks, even Sydaknee have done a seriously good job of winning flags and staying in the hunt for a long time since the Brisvegas threepeat.
Tiges have also done an immense job of staying up at finals level ( even if we did stumble in our first few finals ) winning flags and most importantly still keeping a flow through of youngsters coming in.
Finals in seven of the last eight years, with three flags won. Club should still be in strong contention for flags in the next few years, plus we have the list regenerating option of six draft picks in the first three rounds this year.
Recruitment n list management is the core factor in successful footy these days. That coach fella is just the passion fruit icing on top.