cecil89 wrote:
I don't understand the 'premiership window' talk. Why is it thought that if we have a 2-3 year period of success that we will then have a dry spell to follow. I realise equalisation is a big part of the AFL, but lately teams like Geelong and Sydney and to a lesser extent Hawthorn have showed that with good management you can get yourself into a position to compete and then maintain it for several years. There's no guarantee of winning multiple flags in that time, but you're at least around the mark and putting yourself in a good position. I think there's room for a 26 year old like Thomas, a 30 year old like Staker and a 22 year old like Martin to all be recruited in the one offseason (obviously not feasible because of salary cap issues tho). Sure, Staker wouldn't be part of our push to a premiership in 2018, but he'd help us build a solid base now and get us to a situation where it is easier to maintain a strong list rather than rebuild one.
I use those 3 simply as examples, but i just think there is room to improve our squad through the recruitment of players at various stages of their careers and also use the draft, free agency and trades to achieve that.
Now this is an interesting post.
Firstly, I'm not so concerned with sustaining a premiership window for more than 2-3 years as I am getting one open in the first place.
Hawthorn clearly had such a plan. They traded out some very good older players in order to gather a raft of draft picks. Some worked, some didn't, but they had enough to score some big wins. Once they got close they used some top ups to get them over the line.
Geelong didn't obviously do this. They just had a good run with father son selections, plus some very good recruiting. On top of that they enjoy my rates paying for the continual upgrade of their facilities.
Sydney have a salary cap advantage, but other than that I think they are very good example of the sort of management that you are talking about. Be nice.
I see the Hawthorn model as the one that's most accessible to us. Picks, picks and more picks I say. The only caveat is the Melbourne factor. They got rid of too many, (popular), senior players and became a basket case. Personally I would encourage caution trying to trade senior players, but no way do I think we should try to recruit anyone like Staker or Didak.
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