Maybe this is a matter of interpretation but there is no doubt that their team is made up of players either released by their current club or available because they were without a contract. Whether you call them cast-offs or not, the fact is these are players for whatever reason not required by their current club. Using Topor-Stanley as an example, everyone mocked him constantly as being shit and now he's a key player in a top team. Or Labinot Haliti. You say Bridge would have been a high earner at Sydney in 11/12 - I find that hard to believe
Their import recruitment has been very good and the fact they're managed to play with all 6 on the pitch a number of times is sign of that.
They've done a lot of things very well, some of that may be due to some FFA involvement, but in the end I think it's churlish to deny that it's been a really impressive year from them.