Melbourne players are basically the same age as the Cats?

Did Hawkins and a few others retire?

Is this entire list or best 22? Makes a huge difference, I expect.

Our 'actually playing' finals teams were 26.5-ish years old.

Collingwood's actual team age in their final against us was over 28yrs, so that table is clearly whole-list.

So does that favour us or not?

I think the only important points about a team's age are how much is to be gained as young players develop, and how much might be lost as older players slow down or retire.

At the older end, we have a confusing mix of elite (May, Gawn, Viney) and many more expendable and relatively easily replaced role players.

Amongst our younger players there is a promising set already playing AFL level and doing it well, but who clearly have room for more improvement which could see them become elite. Van Rooyen beign the poster boy. Additionally, we've actually got a very substantial crop of very young draftees coming into the system.

My summary would be we have a very good growth potential from our younger end and only a couple of very specific vulnerabilities due to age. They are high-impact vulnerabilities, though.