By virtue of the fact that we were third in line for one of two options we've missed out on securing a replacement for Scully.

I think next year represents a good opportunity though with the club having a bit of a war chest behind it to grab a ready made replacement. Besides Pendlebury and Goddard who come out of contract (who I think are only the remotest of chances -if at all) there are others such as Andrew Gaff whose player managers we should be persuading to look at joining the red and the blue.

Even if we have to commit our first pick to Jack Viney we can still activate both compensation selections at the start of the year in what will be a much stronger draft. Neeld will have had 12 mths to work out what he needs from our list and who can be traded to get a suitable deal done.

Goddard will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season. Stuff trading for him, lets just open the wallet.

Pendlebury will be restricted which means Pies could match any offer put to him to keep him.

Every time I say 'that' name, my tongue blisters...shut up, you might say, that's fair.

Let's develop our youngsters AND culture under Neeld - as Master Demon said, the Coach could be hanging on to a few picks to 'feel' the place for a year or two.

I too develop a wry smile when I hear the name "Scully" mentioned. Do we mean the very promising player whose performances in his debut season and in one pre season training session in January had me pronouncing him a future superstar or the one with the injured knee who in 2011 missed half a season, played one or two good games, looked uninterested most of the time and displayed no commitment to his employer or his team's fans?

If I want to replace a player, then he has to have some credibility so, if you're asking me, I'll tell you plainly, I don't think Scully needs to be replaced at all. If we were thinking that O'Meara or Crouch were the next Scullys then Gold Coast and Adelaide can have them.

The fact is we already have a young bloke in their age category. I've seen him play, he's committed himself to us and those two would have to be bloody good to better him. We have something better than a Scully replacement.

As for where we're placed if we don't carry out a recruiting coup in trade week, we're in a good place to challenge anyone for a free agency placement in 2012. Better than the Giants with their concessions and their AFL patronage. We need to pick our marks, start working on them as early as possible and get our deals done. If the other clubs involved are disrupted for the year, the blame for that lies with the AFL which creates the laws.

Jack Viney will replace him nicely.

I see similar zip and movement in Blease. I feel we're fine.

I don't think we'll miss him that much. I have confidence in these kids on our list.

I too develop a wry smile when I hear the name "Scully" mentioned. Do we mean the very promising player whose performances in his debut season and in one pre season training session in January had me pronouncing him a future superstar or the one with the injured knee who in 2011 missed half a season, played one or two good games, looked uninterested most of the time and displayed no commitment to his employer or his team's fans?

If I want to replace a player, then he has to have some credibility so, if you're asking me, I'll tell you plainly, I don't think Scully needs to be replaced at all. If we were thinking that O'Meara or Crouch were the next Scullys then Gold Coast and Adelaide can have them.

The fact is we already have a young bloke in their age category. I've seen him play, he's committed himself to us and those two would have to be bloody good to better him. We have something better than a Scully replacement.

As for where we're placed if we don't carry out a recruiting coup in trade week, we're in a good place to challenge anyone for a free agency placement in 2012. Better than the Giants with their concessions and their AFL patronage. We need to pick our marks, start working on them as early as possible and get our deals done. If the other clubs involved are disrupted for the year, the blame for that lies with the AFL which creates the laws.

Sanity at last