Stepping back from the horsetrading for a moment, in the aftermath of Ross-Ros Rebuild, I see the need to go down one of two paths.
Either continue to bring mature ready-to-go talent straight into the team, aloingside stars who want to taste finals again before they retire, or bite the bullet by embarking on a deep rebuild that targets a swathe of young talent from high in the main draft and rookie drafts, to develop over time?
Personally and with hindsight, I think we've erred too much to the former in most recent drafts, after casting aside too many burned-out players that has left us with big shoes to fill all over the park, and too few high quality players left to carry the resulting chaos. So, we've had to pin our hopes on bringing in established talent.
It is a regretful, that several of those cast-offs have successfully resurrected their careers with better-performing clubs, and could have been used better here.
Also, we have taken on good key players that we can't get on the park, with ever-recurring injuries to key position players casting doubt on the capabilities of the club, and the captain stating his desire to return to finals as the years tick down on his own career. That might be down to lingering parting pains re RoLy, but places the club in something of a dilemma.
I will admit that I backed some of these gambles, but am now thinking that in the long-term, the club is best served by drafting aka 2008: bring in lots of good young fresh legs to build a running style and attacking flair like Richmond, Dogs, Essendon, West Coast (yes) etc who hunt in packs and score heavily.
Mainly I hope that Bell et al articulate their strategy openly, and choose to target our local WA young talent. If our paid recruiters think that we should overlook the next Sidney Stack and Tim Kelly, make them accountable to someone well-informed like Bizkit, as the Member rep on the board. Biz you know you want to.
