kos wrote:
we wine about rejects as it is, the only way forward is by drafting and playing kids.
we were the pioneers at the begining of the decade and success followed, we divirted from this path by drafting rejects (ackland, mcgough ect)
this left us in the position we are in.
good drafting of kids currently have dogs, cats, hawks and pies dominating the competition.
No...success followed not because we drafted kids alone...
The Blight Bulge delivered players like GTrain and Hamill......plus other solid support players like Voss.
This was on top of still havinga solid core of talented players from our 97 GF such as Banger, Max and Aussie...and Hall and Everitt too...though our previous coach fritterd away two of them.
So adding to those TWO groups of talented and experienced players you then and only then added the kids gained by being very lucky to finish low in an ear when priorty picks were invented so that we gained two exatr low players.
Then was all was good...and all was ripe for sustained suvvess waldron left and our drafting and trading became dismal.
Dud after dud gained...first and second round draft picks frittered away...
now while i am generally an advocate for drafting kids...what counts is getting your picks and trades right.
The Dogs for example drafted well over a long period for quick and highly footskilled players. they also traded to top up..but had some poor trades. Then the lats two years they got their trades right.
Aka was gained for little...and welsh gained this year too...so suddenly their forward line is multi dimensional and loaded with talent..supported bya host of mids that actuall kicked goals. Hudson was added in the ruck...where the Dogs were poor..and suddenly all their niches are covered.
The ctas too mainly used the draft..the father son sustem boosting the quality of their picks...but they two alos traded to fill areas of weakness. Money providing the key forward and ottens the ruckman come forward.
The Haks have followeda mainly youth policy.....and booste their picks with trading away older players for more low draft picks ...and resulatnt years of pain. But they also gained Croad back cheaply....and grabbed Guerra for virtually nil and Dew reasonablly cheaply as well. The hawks were also a master of the rookie system...something which the Saints good not afford to do ( and remeber at that time the Hawks were struggling for a $) as we used what money we had to overplay our over-rated players to 100% of the saray cap.....and then being forced to not only play 1 or 2 players short on our senior list...but to play short of rookies too (as well as no development coach to develop the kids).
So yes take kids in the main...BUt if there is good trade take it too.
BUT you must get MOST of your picks and trades correct. this is the viatal things.
And the when you have them..you must develop them. Something which our previous crew were dibalocal at.
Trading for trading sake...is meaningless and unproductive..
You only trade if it will improve the team.
Flying the World in comfort thanks to FF Points....