I think we have slashed too hard and made the rebuild more difficult than it had to be by leaving not a lot of experienced players on the list.

Perhaps we have all got a bit excited at trade time.

The Plow deal followed by the Touhy trade is starting took like a bust and really looks to make no sense.
We would have found another way to get Marchbank.

The more I look at it, the more SOS is starting to look pretty ordinary.

The draft picks may or may not work out ok......SPS has talent but has gone backwards this year, although way too early to write him off. Williamson and Fish are good, and McReadie should deliver. Cunners has talent and should improve. Harry is the big unknown, Dow is not the best kick (hardly the Hawks model Bolts ?) so pick 3 hmmmm, and LOB appears ok.

But it's the experienced pick ups that are a worry. Mullet and O'Shea are battlers and won't be there in 2 years. Phillips is a huge query, and Lamb and Sumner were poor selections. Shaw is yet to play but on what we've seen of him don't hold your breath. Happy to wait for Kennedy to be injury free before judging him but gee we need him to deliver. Plowman is a pass mark, but not playing well at the mo'. Marchbank and Wright are by far the best of our more experienced pick ups.
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Most of the players you name cost nothing or we’re steajkbivws in a deal.
Mullett and O Shea wouldn’t be playing we hadn’t had so many backline injuries.

Let’s face facts, whatever list management decisions Carlton makes it is going to be a 3rd tier team for some while. I don’t watch the NRL but at least their games are much more unpredictable.

The AFL should stop worrying about gender fluidity, refugees, religious minorities and being social justice warriors and worry about why the game is made up of 3 tier teams as early as 4 matches into the season.

1st tier- Sydney (year after year and never in a “rebuild”), GWS, Richmond etc teams competing for flag

Btw Why does Sydney never need to rebuild? Are the AFL’s equalising measures really working?

2nd tier- generally competitive against most teams and perhaps building for 1st tier eg Port

3rd tier- teams that have no hope of victory against 1st and 2nd tier teams for 90% of time eg Carlton, Brisbane, Gold Coast

Why are these teams cellar dwellers year after year? Is it all due to poor list management decisions or is there something structurally wrong with AFL?

Do good players want to get out of these clubs ASAP? Free agency? Is the draft really an equalising mechanism?

NRL = unpredictable by 30% more where underdogs win
AFL = does anyone really want to tip Carlton against West Coast? Or Brisbane vs Geelong? We know the results of these matches before they are played.

The game has a problem. Results are easy to pick. Carlton nailing one draft pick per year isn’t going to fix anything.

In an entertainment business you need unpredictability. At least 2 to 3 matches each weekend are highly predictable in terms of the result. The AFL should focus on this.

I haven't got much of a problem with the players we've drafted or recruited in general since SOS got the gig, but he's rooted any chance of Bolts being competitive ATM.

Loading up with 4 recycled HBF's this season was a disaster for a team with no midfield support.

That we didn't at least try to pick up one or two high possession mids from WAFL / SANFL etc has left us uncompetitive.

I agree. One or 2 inside type Mids would have been good.

More than half the list should be midfielders or capable of playing midfield.
In a list of 44 . At least 22 should be mids

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The more I look at it, the more SOS is starting to look pretty ordinary.

The draft picks may or may not work out ok......SPS has talent but has gone backwards this year, although way too early to write him off. Williamson and Fish are good, and McReadie should deliver. Cunners has talent and should improve. Harry is the big unknown, Dow is not the best kick (hardly the Hawks model Bolts ?) so pick 3 hmmmm, and LOB appears ok.

But it's the experienced pick ups that are a worry. Mullet and O'Shea are battlers and won't be there in 2 years. Phillips is a huge query, and Lamb and Sumner were poor selections. Shaw is yet to play but on what we've seen of him don't hold your breath. Happy to wait for Kennedy to be injury free before judging him but gee we need him to deliver. Plowman is a pass mark, but not playing well at the mo'. Marchbank and Wright are by far the best of our more experienced pick ups.

We need to get better quality more experienced players to allow our kids to develop. No good having a truck load of youth if they get smashed each week and get no example to follow from our experienced players. The Hawks pick up a guy like Impey.....while we get Mullet. Until we stop this crap we're going nowhere.