I was thinking about our list and the balance of our team compared to the cats and the hawks. I think we have a bit of a way to go and a premiership is not going to come as easily as some may think. For starters, we need this years trade/draft to be successful. In breaking down the teams Ive come up with this.

Geelong have 9 elite players:

Ablett
Bartel
Chapman
Corey
Johnson
Ottens
Scarlett
Selwood
Ling

Hawks have 5:

Franklin
Hodge
Mitchell
Roughead
Sewell

Carlton have 5: (im not saying these guys are elite but i think we are all pretty confident that they will be...and so im thinking forward to when we could be a premiership contender)

Fev
Judd
Gibbs
Kreuzer
Murphy

That should at least equal the 5 best from the other clubs and probably surpass them in the end.

The next group is not so convincing though.

Geelong have 6 very good players (my thinking here, as with the above group, is that these players would still be very good regardless of who they were playing for)

Egan
Enright
Harley
Mackie
Milburn
Kelly

Hawthorn have 10:

Bateman
Birchall
Brown
Crawford
Croad
Ellis
Ladson
Lewis
Rioli
Williams

Carlton (again i am using my knowledge as a carlton supporter to include young players that i am confident enough will make it to the "very good" level)

Houla*
Bower*
Betts
Grigg*
Simpson
Stevens
Waite*
Walker
Jamison*
Scotland
Thornton

(* these are the only players that i think could push for the "elite" category when we are a top 4 side again, but again it's an unknown)

I think that it is pretty clear from that list of "very good" and "ellte" players, that we have a fair way to go to catch the cats and hawks. Of the "very good" list hawthorn probably have 3 that are very close to elite whereas probably none of ours are very close. At least one of geelongs could be considered very close to "elite" as well, which would give them twice as many "elite" players as us.

In my view, we are relying a lot on this years trade/draft and also we need 3 of this group to become "very good" as it would mean that a few of our current "very good" players would be overtaken and therefore the quality of that list would be improved (im only including players that i think MIGHT be capable):

Armfield
Browne
Austin
Hampson
Russel
Anderson
Hartlett

And then we need Pick 6 and 24 (or whatever player we get in a trade involving this pick) to become "very good" as well as probably our first rounder from 2009 and maybe even 2010 (but these 2 i would expect to be able to have immediate impact like Rioli and Taylor). So there is a long way to go. But if 3 of that previous group, plus the draftees come good then the following group could be removed from the line-up.

I don't think these players would get a game at Geelong or hawthorn:

Cloke
Fisher
O'hailpin
Wiggins
Carrots
Bentick


So we have at least 6 players in our team that aren't up to their standard which is the standard required for a premiership.

This makes sense in my head...Im not sure if it makes sense as i type it though. I think i am thinking of Geelongs and Hawthorn's list now, and then comparing it to Carlton's current list, but also how i see our team when we become top 4 again. As can be seen from the preliminary finals, there is a big gap between 1st and 4th. So top 4 doesn't mean we are serious contenders. And im trying to show what i think we need to happen to not just be top 4 but to be top 2 and hopefully Premiers.

Basically, our "elite" group is fine if all goes to plan. We need at least 3 players from our "very good" group to be close to the "elite" level and we need a better bottom 6.

I think we'll be ok, and that we'll be serious contenders once the players age a bit. But it can easily go wrong. Look at the saints for instance. Their team lacks balance and they have never made it. Our team currently lacks balance, but i imagine it will be naturally rectified with the emergence and continued improvement of some young players over the next season or two.

Synergy is the key my friend

_________________
How can I be blue when I support Carlton and The Fev?

Yeah maybe

Houla-"elite"

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I see you watching me watching you.

..sure is easy to become an elite player nowadays..

..for the record, carlton so far has only 1 elite player, el capitano..

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..if you can't be good, be good at it..

Umm... Fevola?

If there are say 300,000 blokes running around on a Saturday playing footy (seniors, reserves, thirds etc) across Victoria, say 150,000 in SA, 100,000 in WA and 50,000 in each of Queensland and NSW that equates to 650,000 guys who play footy.

With say 44 on an AFL squad, that equates to 704 blokes or, 0.1083% of footy players in the country.

If that's not "elite" then I suppose I should aim to get myself on an AFL team's list next year.

No. Im just saying that when the rest of the team improves around him, he could push to be considered close to elite. I'm not saying it will happen, but he does have the skill to make it seem possible.

Well obviously it's all relative.

FFS, why do people persist in comparing us to Hawthorn and Geelong. We're still a young side couple of years away so of course we're not as good yet. If our players were we'd win the flag or go close. Like anything, improvement is a step at a time. Our next step is the 8 and to win a final. Compare us to sides in other parts of the 8. That'd be fairer. We did beat the Bulldogs.....by 5 goals and were a highly competitive unit. Look where Hawthorn were 2 years ago. Things change quick when you have a young team.

Compare us to THE top sides when we're close to getting there.

we are 2-3 years away from the top.
come this draft IF we can pick up HURLEY there is another player who will make a BIG difference come 2-3 years. big body defender who will play on brown, pav etc.
1.we still need another 1-2 tall/medium forwards to help out fev.
2.still need 1 more smallish quick forward to help out eddie,
but in 2-3 years when the boys grow look out.