FQF wrote:In this day and age, there is more to bottoming out then piling up a few good draft picks. The culture becomes shot, sometimes irreparably. You lose members, sponsors, and big money, and if a club really hits rock bottom then their very existence becomes questionable.
That's why we need to hang on to guys like Ray and Jones who offer good short term value in many areas, and allow us to always remain somewhat competitive whilst rebuilding. It's essential.
I totally agree with the first part. Though, honestly, I don't reckon you need to bottom out if you draft and/or trade well enough. Geelong, Sydney are cases in point. Hannebury, Jack, Kennedy, Parker, Chrissakes... The issue here right now is that for a few years we got Ledger, Cripps, C Gardiner, Winmar, Peake, Polo, Lovett and FAILED to get the guy who may have gotten us over the line in Ben Cousins. The Lyon era top ups, compared to Hawthorn's Lake, Gibson, Hale, etc are a f****** joke, really. Amateur stuff. I'll give him Gardiner and Dempster, at a pinch Schneider. S King was a good top up.
Compared to the Thomas era top ups in Black, Powell, Penny, because I know nobody likes comparisons to Hawthorn, Lyon era top ups were a joke to match the young talent identification debacle.
I do get what you're saying in the second part. On a dollar for dollar basis, you keep Ray and Jones coz they're cheap, not tradeable, and hardened. But in that case, it wouldn't be hard to go out and buy half a team of GOPs in one go. Trade anyone who is trade-worthy, buy 15 average footballers, cobble together a losing side and bloody well make sure you draft well for a couple years. And its a rational, business-like way to go about it - don't pay the full salary cap in a year you'll not make the finals. BUT... to see Goddard and NDS gone, and Ray, Jones and Gilbert retained in the same period has a way of doing more harm than good. Dal Santo booted while Jones is re-signed will always look like a travesty and reflecting a lack of club spirit.
Obviously I'm being extreme and there are measured ways to go about this, which incorporates the idea of holding onto the hundred game blokes who can compete, and trading out one or two of the older but still tradeable players you have for younger kids and higher picks.
But in my opinion the measured approach is not a good way to go about it, because you end up with what I think we have now - Drift. Keeping Reiwoldt for 'reverence' reasons, turfing out NDS, holding onto gap fillers....
In my view, from a supporter's perspective, I would love to see the also-rans shown the door and as much young talent as you can muster into it to play alongside our greats. If we gonna finish down the bottom, do it in style with a 19 year old team and give your supporters a sense of hope. Allow your champs to finish in dignity - when they want - and then go splurging.
2002-2003 style. Quick, decisive, effective, purposeful.
