Playing Kids and rebuilding is the new AFL mantra. Look back on most AFL sides history and the now dominant ones have had this "rebuilding phase". The Lions were easy beats before they became dominant; The 01 ladder is revealing-
The bottom half from 9-16 was
9 Pies
10 dogs
11 demons'
12 Cats
13 Roos
14 Eagles
15 Saints
16 Freo

All except for the Pies and dogs are currently in the eight. IMO the Dogs are rapidly improving and will surprise a few this year. That only leaves the Pies as the underachievers from the 01 bottom half. It seems there is a 2-3 year lag before a young side starts to show its potential.

Look at the Port Adelaide List that was today flogged by West Coast (117 points)

Port Adelaide
Player K H P M HO T FF FA G B
Matthew Bishop 5 2 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dean Brogan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Peter Burgoyne 12 8 20 3 0 4 1 1 0 0
Domenic Cassisi 8 2 10 3 0 4 1 1 1 0
Stuart Cochrane 5 5 10 4 0 2 0 1 0 0
Chad Cornes 21 6 27 13 0 3 1 0 0 0
Kane Cornes 17 15 32 6 0 1 0 0 2 0
Stuart Dew 10 1 11 4 0 2 0 0 0 0
Brett Ebert 12 1 13 3 0 0 0 0 0 1
Benjamin Eckermann 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0
Josh Francou 5 8 13 2 0 3 1 5 0 0
Roger James 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Adam Kingsley 11 7 18 4 0 0 0 0 1 0
Brendon Lade 4 6 10 3 8 2 2 1 1 1
Brett Montgomery 7 5 12 6 0 2 2 3 1 0
Michael Pettigrew 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Byron Pickett 10 2 12 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 Matthew Primus 8 5 13 4 14 5 3 1 1 0
Aaron Shattock 5 6 11 2 0 2 0 1 0 0
Toby Thurstans 7 2 9 5 0 2 1 1 0 0
Warren Tredrea 5 5 10 5 0 0 1 1 1 2
Darryl Wakelin 5 6 11 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Peter Walsh 8 8 16 4 0 0 1 0 0 0
Gavin Wanganeen 8 3 11 2 0 0 1 0 0 1
Damon White 6 2 8 6 0 0 0 1 1 1

The premiership players are highlighted in red. 16 players in all. Out of the other players-
Cochrane 50 games
Ebert 25 games
Eckerman 3 games
Francou injured GF
Pettigrew 8 Games
Shattock 62 games (5 with port)
Walsh 113 games
White 12 games

Take Cochrane Francou Shattock and Walsh out and you are left with 4 young players (Ebert Eckerman Pettigrew White) in the side demolished by the eagles. Just 4 new players that have replaced out of the grand final side
Shaun Burgoyne (68 games)
Josh Carr (114 games)
Damien Hardwick (207 games)
Josh mahoney (54 games)
Jarrad Schofield (195 games)
Michael Wilson (142 games)

If a few missing experience players can bring the reigning premiers down to a rabble then perhaps we can reflect on how many young inexperienced players we are playing at the moment and furthermore out of the experienced players, how many are genuine premiership calibre players. From todays game-

Bentick 7
Betts 8
Carrazzo 9
De Luca 31
Livingston 33
Mcgrath 46
Simpson 11
Waite 38
Walker 22

Are we being too hard on our list to expect more than they are currently delivering? Perhaps an analysis of our list versus other teams would suggest that we are performing according to what our experience and tallent supports.

careful, never let thought get in the way of a good rant!

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This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Moreover, don't let thought see you come up with the same theory as Mick Malthouse!

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How dare you bring logic and clear thinking onto this board!!!

Does this mean that if we add 16 premiership players to our team we'll still get pumped...?

Shattock, whilst not a premiership player with Port, is a premiership player none-the-less.

Good point there 'nub.

If we can get (and I think we can) 6 x 150 game players out of Bentick, Betts, Carrazzo, De Luca, Livingston, Mcgrath, Simpson, Thornton, Waite, Walker and add a few more from Blackwell, Russell, Raso, Bryan, Hartlett and maybe the rookies, then we are looking at a pretty good nucleus for our new side.

There will be some pain along the way though.

Simon Beaumont was a 150 game player...