We got beaten in the middle most of last year, and we just lost our most prolific ball-winner. Blakely and Conca in the middle, and another year into Brayshaw and Cerra will mitigate some of that loss, but it's still a loss.
A rebuild doesn't have to be exclusively through the draft. Having a bad record gifts you a high draft pick, but that is a chip you can take to the draft, or cash in for a player. We used our two high picks last year, and cashed in the high pick this year for a player. That's a perfectly sound strategy but not one that completely catapults you into flag contention.
That said, Freo are paying $4.50 to make the top 8 next season and I think that's pretty tempting.
