Thanks Paddy and Crusader.
It's pretty much as I thought then.
A pretty scary position to be in considering how long we have been re-building for and that IMO we will need more talent to not just make the 8 but to play on the big stage and win. I fear we will have to follow the Pies or Suns and have to offload some top end talent in order to progress as I can't see us relying on our current list on it's own. You have to ask if these big contracts to so few are the right way to go vs what Geelong are seemingly doing, paying their top tier a lot less across the board to build quality depth across the whole team.

I just hope the new administration can pull us out of the hole that the previous ones have seemingly put us in, with wasted draft picks, poor development and game strategies as well as poor contract negotiations for mostly injury prone players. Those 2 years could've well and truly derailed all the hard work and risk of a full rebuild.
Hopefully Cook stays on a little longer as he will be the one to sort this out and re-direct the ship, so to speak.
And in the future these massive contracts to too few become a thing of the past and we can get some leverage back.

I'm still optimistic about our future and especially Voss and his game plan, but I feel I am probably a little less bullish about it going into next season if he doesn't have the right assets to complete it.

I just hope we don't trade out pick 10 for multiple lower picks, I feel we need a mature kid that is ready to go next season and have and impact in the middle alongside our first choice mids. It'll be an interesting draft night for sure.

Remember, we didn't delist Setterfield. Austin said we wanted to keep him but if he was offered a 3 year contract by Essendon*, would you be happy if we matched it? I wouldn't be. I can't blame him moving on for better security and more opportunity.
Without handcuffing him like Levi Casboult, our options were limited with his uncontracted status.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Both Weidamen and Setters are 3 years of list clogging. Glad the Dons have them

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Go Blues

I don't disagree with you at all, however we kind of set the scene by telling him he will have to wait until after the trade period to get a contract (if that is true). And if Austin really wanted to keep him as he stated, then we should've signed him up for another year or two max well before the trade period or even the end of the season, like they did with LOB.
I think in this scenario we either tried to play chicken and lost or we just had to let either him or Dow go for salary cap purposes.
Either way, it seems it could be detrimental to our depth if we have another season of injuries like this year.
Unless Austin is going to pull a sneaky and add Wallis to the team in the PSD.

Possibly, but my concern is that although a list clogger we still had to use him for the two biggest games of the season this year.
Even though we still lost both those games (mainly due to poor conversion by our forwards) he still held his own, the next best mid was Dow who seemed to be a fair way off of Setters this year when playing in the A side.

We should just be happy we have a good list finally

Two stars up forward

Stars down back

Stars in the middle

Solid rucks

The fact we lose a Setterfield tells us our list is good

Unless that same list is injured then we go from a 9-3 start to a 12-10 finish (with only 3 wins in half a season) and miss the finals.
Our top is great but that's where it stops, with not enough coin to pay for a good middle tier, that's my concern.
Hopefully another year with the Voss game plan can make us less exposed, injury wise.

Having the stars up the top (like us) but also a bottom 6 who can hold their own is where Geelong excell and we don't.

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"Get ready, Teddy - you're on": Ron Barassi half time 1970 Grand Final

If you look at the 40-odd names on our list, it’s pretty hard to argue that the money isn’t in the right place.

Are we honestly three mid to upper-mid level salaries away from unstoppable greatness? Williams, McGovern & Martin aren’t good contracts. But, if you want to wallow over the money that those three are getting, you’ve got to accept that that’s all you stand to gain from winding back the clock.

I would guess that Plowman, Newman, Ed & Jack are all mid-level contracts in the $300k range. All set to expire next year. All solid contributors that weren’t getting replaced this year. Maybe one or two of them aren’t with us next year.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

I reckon that our biggest names are earning unders, similar to Geelong.
Once Crippa signed for less than he is worth, it set the scene for Walsh, Charlie, Harry to follow suit. And with Cook in charge, I suspect he has brought that Geelong thinking to the Blues.
And I think our list is pretty well placed and it wouldn't worry me if we focus the next few years more on the draft - the players we draft in the next 3yrs will be the ones taking over from our older crop of players in 3-5yrs time.
And in terms of Setterfield, we couldn't hold back a player who was going to live mostly in our VFL team, if another club could offer him a starting AFL role. And he was only playing because most of our midfield A-Team was out injured at exactly the same time! Surely that does not happen like that again. And I would also contend that the difference between Setters and Dow in the team is not that much.

Overall, I'm good with the team.
I do expect natural improvement from maturity, game plan, team connection, as well as a few changes around the edges and players stepping it up a level all around the list.
And I'm really hoping that falling just short of finals is burning all through summer and pushing the whole team to work extremely hard over summer and throughout 2023.

Courtesy of Fox Footy:
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/how-your-club-is-placed-ahead-of-the-list-lodgement-deadline-and-upcoming-afl-draft/news-story/2059a30b5208a9e155f659c597f868a8


Our end of season list was +1 over the maximum.

I think the hold up with Ed is whether we’re able to secure another pick - preferably between 10 & 29, but also the final value of picks 49 & 66. If Rendell is anywhere near the money, and there are only 45 names called out, then 66 might land in the 40s or higher.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

100% Agree

If we are still on the hunt for wing depth then what about Oskar Baker from Casey.



https://www.afl.com.au/news/862995/hawks-sign-forward-after-impressive-vfl-season-dogs-consider-ex-dee

We’re pretty close to our ginger quota.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

FYI ,

https://issuu.com/rookieme/docs/2022_af ... =%23000000

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Everything before the word "but" is horseshit - J Snow

Ed Allan @10 is my vote, elite speed and agility. Above average for most of the rest. Good height for the wing

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The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Ronald Reagan

OK, I’m going there…..

Setterfield & Stocker leaving for nothing is giving me flashbacks to Garlett, Robbo & Laidler scenarios.

And if we trade our first pick for multiple later picks, then Curly Jr has officially gone Shane Rogers on us….

There. I said it.

Just lock me in the worry room and leave me there until we win #17

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It's never as good as it looks and it's never as bad as it seems.

Who would you have delisted instead or would you have taken less picks in the draft?
FWIW, I wouldn't have been too pissed if we kept both but Setters wanted more money/tenure which Essendon* offered and I wouldn't have matched.
As for Stocker, he doesn't want it enough. That sort of shit can easily become infectious.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.