Pav's central thesis appears correct, however his choice of evidence is poor.
WC drafted Stevens and Ebert to play as big bodied mids, then developed them poorly and lost them for very little.
WC have burnt a heck of a lot of second round picks. They also seem keen on just throwing away picks (mostly in the RD) on recycled, injury prone players unlikely to ever get a consistent game (e.g. Bedford, Dalziell, JON, Dick, Morton and Bennell).
In fact WC have largely wasted their rookie draft picks altogether. Either via rapid de-listing, or wasting away for a year or two on the main list post premature promotions.
This is kind of disastrous taking into account the fluffed first/second round picks and the fact they rarely go late into the draft.
For a club as wealthy as WC, the constant drafting/list management blunders and failure to develop draftees is pretty inexplicable. There is the money to hire the best staff possible for every department, but the club seems insular, conservative and stubborn in these areas to the point of self destructiveness.
100% agree with you on our trading, rookie strategy and recent drafting from second round onwards