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A few years ago, before we headed on the road that was 2011 and a(nother) annus horribilis, I wrote about the fact that our number and level of players in the prime of their career is far inferior to even middling sides. I have a 70 games/23 year of age threshold but will make exceptions in the case of Grimes, Hannebery, et al. Melbourne (13): Davey, Jamar, Rodan*, Byrnes*, MacDonald, Sylvia, Dunn, Clark, Jones, Garland*, Dawes*, Frawley, and Grimes*. For comparisons sake... NM (12): Harvey, Petrie, Firrito, Wells, Thompson, McMahon, Swallow, Thomas, Anthony*, Goldstein*, Hansen*, and Ziebell*. Richmond (20): Tuck, Newman, Edwards*, King, Foley, Maric, Chaplin*, Jackson, Knights*, McGuane, Lonergan*, White, Deledio, Nahas*, Grigg*, Houli*, Edwards, Riewoldt, Rance*, and Cotchin. Hawthorn (16): Lake*, Guerra, Osborne, Mitchell, Burgoyne, Sewell, Gibson, Hale, Hodge, Lewis, Roughhead, Franklin, Birchall, Ellis, Rioli, and Whitecross*. St Kilda (17): Hayes, Milne, Blake, Fisher, Kozzie, Riewoldt, Montagna, Dempster, Jones, Dal Santo, Schneider, Ray, Gwilt, Gilbert, Armitage*, Geary*, and McEvoy*. Sydney (20): Goodes, Bolton, O'Keefe, Shaw, Mattner, Richards, LRT, Grundy, Malceski, McVeigh, McGlynn, Mumford, Morton, Tippett*, Jack, Smith*, Kennedy, Bird*, Jetta*, and Hannebery*. * New to team or new to prime of their careers. Bolded players are midfielders or players that run through the midfield at times. Analysis: It is quite startling to see 4 players in their 'prime' that happen to run through the middle and Rodan is definitely on his last legs (touchwood he doesn't ruin his legs again). NM have only 12 players that meet the criteria but half of those run through the middle. Tigers, Hawks, and Saints have 9, and the Swans have 11. It should be a humbling thing to read for all of us and remind us that this will take time. And that is with 5 of the 13 being from other clubs. North have zero recycled players in their prime, the Tigers have 8, the Hawks have 5, the Saints have 4, and Sydney has 9. We need to be patient but we also need to bring in players from other clubs to have an immediate impact. 2013 is going to be a struggle at times.