Adam The God

Agreed. We'll also (hopefully) be in an even stronger position to lure a good young player with the promise of finals and something more.

I think this is the key to sustained success. We can't just put all our chips on this one generation coming through now in Tyson, Viney, Hogan, Weideman, Oliver, Petracca, Brayshaw, Hunt and Salem (wow, I love writing that). We need to continue nailing these 3rd and 4th rounders and our first rounders when we have them. This will keep us up the top even after these guys have retired. What might break all this is your last sentence. If we continue to trade away our first rounders for experienced players there's the danger of becoming North, so we have to find a balance somewhere in there.

No, the bare minimum, mate. But I agree. We need to fill the void of experience on our list over the next 2-3 off seasons, whilst also keep developing 3-4 young kids down at Casey. I'd also say we're looking for players in that 23-27 age bracket as well as the 25-28 age bracket.

You mean like Grant Birchall, Matt Suckling and even Isaac Smith?

The only reason I would entertain a trade for Salem (and as I've said in the past it'd have to be for a Brad Crouch type) is his inability to get on the field. Whether it be hamstring or thyroid-related injuries.

You're probably right by insinuating we wouldn't be looking at Essendon players if we didn't have Goodwin, but the fact remains that we are. Why is this? Because Goodwin knows them intimately and understands what they will bring to his team in 2017 and beyond.

Nope. Can't see it happening. IMO, we'd only entertain a trade for Salem if it was for a player of equal or higher capacity. Hibberd is an important acquisition as a role player, but in time, if he can stay fit, Christian will be a much better player.

If we go by Jude Bolton's recent article, he discussed Roos' philosophy being anchored around the players working through situations going against them, rather than falling back on the coach. That would be about giving the players 'empowerment' to change momentum in games and take control themselves. I'd say this is what it was all about and has been throughout Roos' tenure.

And Richmond might just do it again with Prestia.

Dangerfield, like Judd and Ablett before him, is wallpapering serious midfield deficiencies at his club. I'd prefer to go after a star in the making who will conceivably cost us less, ie Brad Crouch.

That says everything about our poor our club has been and not how good Roos has been. However, he has been terrific since coming in. That record is an inditement on our footy club.

If he's stupid he will. Geelong have an average midfield with two stars in it. Hawthorn will get nowhere unless they start to replace their bookends.

I think we'll probably see five go from the main list and perhaps a rookie or two. That'll be it. Pedersen will get another deal and Matt Jones probably will too.

I agree, but isn't the Brisbane situation more a coaching problem and less personnel?

What a cop out. Get off the fence if you're not going to have an opinion yourself.

Losing yesterday will not be a deal breaker.

Disagree. I reckon FA will be our friend in the coming 3-5 years. It's how we'll smooth the edges of our list.

See, I reckon he'd really struggle at Brisbane (I mean who wouldn't? ).

I think you're underselling him a little bit, mate, but I think he'd struggle in a team with a lesser midfield. If he was 24 it'd be a yes, but with Weed and Hulett coming through, I'd prefer to develop from within there.

I agree with this, mate and with Jaded's post too, but it is frustrating to see him play for free kicks and at times fail to even provide a chase if the ball is spoiled or spilled. This happened a couple of times right in front of us on Sunday and it's not a good look. But it's funny. I feel like he still hasn't had that break out game yet and reckon he might this year. He has the potential to kick 10+, it's really only a matter of time. But first he has to work on his attitude, his defensive work rate and keep things simple with his kicking action.

Good post. The inexperienced players aren't the problem at our club, it's the senior players. Naturally, much of our inconsistency will be down to the inexperience on our list, but also the up and down form of players with experience who should be doing a whole lot better.

Agreed, although there has been a bit of gifting.

Get them all coming through at the same time. It's the Geelong model.

I think what Hawthorn did though was bring in the Gibson's and the Lake's once they'd built a bit of momentum in the competition. Let's see who we can attract at the end of 2016 and at the end of 2017. I think you'll find (if we continue our upward trajectory as a club) that we'll be able to entice some A graders for the first time in years. And these won't be A graders on the back of merely money. These will be A graders that want to jump on board, because they see what we're building. Make finals or go close this year and follow it up again next year with a finals campaign and this will be a reality. I keep saying it, but we are building a scary midfield. Midfields win premierships.

Hogan at CHF and Weideman at FF with Watts as a smart third tall who can kick goals too... that's a scary proposition for opposition defences. Especially, when we'll have the likes of Viney, Oliver, Petracca, Tyson etc winning the ball out of the middle more times than not. Our list balance is almost becoming a little Hawthornesque. We're building a really strong midfield with depth, a powerful forwardline, but a weaker backline. Hawthorn's structures, team work at the back and good ball users is what enabled them to be so dominant. We don't have that yet, but that's the direction we're going in. Of course, down the track we'll look to add KPDs to our list just as Hawthorn did with Gibson (despite playing undersized), Lake and now Frawley. Let's keep adding to the midfield, sign a KPD in FA or Hurley and continue developing our young KPFs in Weideman and Hulett to support Jesse. I love that we're still flying under the radar and rightfully so, we're still horribly inconsistent, but if we can sign Hogan long term this year, heads might start to turn our way.