Demons1858

Think your underselling his efforts. Its true that they got plenty of assistance but they played it smartly just the same. Traded in experienced players that were done at top clubs at little or not cost to guide the youngsters and focussed top selections on future talent which the afl hadn't totally expected. You just need to look at the Gold coast to see how not to do it (although I acknowledge they got lesser concessions). All those talented draft selections which they now don't need are now used as currency to bring in even more selections and mature bodies at the point end of their list management

Carlton list was the terrible when SOS arrived and its profile suggested it was only going to get worse in the coming years. SOS has cleared out heaps of players quickly that might have got a game but aren't going to improve enough to play in a potential finals side. By clearing them out he helps them bottom out to get trade picks and to a lesser extent saves some salary cap money. They have rarely traded top end draft picks away only the bottom end ones if I recall correctly - although there was one mega deal were they traded in heaps of GWS players. So he traded in heaps of young cheap GWS talent and brought in the occasional players in place of late trades that go nowhere anyway. Whether the GWS imports work or not - that is a bonus. What's more important is what they do with the top end talent they recruit while they bottom out. They would want to get it right like Todd and Jason have. The GWS list he moulded looks alright so I think he knows what he is doing but starting from a long way back - time will tell

Its ridiculous that he can do this. Early call, but he's got the best hands I can ever recall from a player in the last 30 years. Seems better with his hands than Diesel Williams which is a big call. Sam Mitchell is also pretty handy under pressure but he has his measure as well IMO

Your so right SWYL. We had so many top 20 selections in recent drafts that we got wrong i.e. pre Todd Viney and then Jason Taylor afterwards. They rated talent too far ahead of competitiveness back then believing they could be taught. Simply not possible. Cale Morton running away along the wing from an angrier and bigger opponent was an extreme example of that. Can't image any of the recent competitive draftees doing that. We would have had better luck just selected randomly from the top 20 draft prospects each year ... which highlights to me that the player development and the environment (including but not limited to tanking) were far worse that the drafting ...