When you consider the age profile of the blokes likely to be on the chopping block this year and/or considering retirement, they make a lot of sense.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

In isolation Thomas is a good player

But the contract terms restrict our ability to build the list into the future - a contract offer which could have been put to an out of contract GC/GWS tall forward instead.

It's a dog's breakfast.

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

hahaha no other administration would have allowed it to happen

i side with mm.... he should look after his family commitements first

the club shuld look after its own interests

mm won.,, he got the million dollar job and the book tour.

thats just more weakness by the club and the admin

mm wasnt weak

family first

just as i would have done...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

i admit it.. i love daisy.
i love what hes capable of doing... skill.. work rate ... defensive play... creativity

but the truth is we should not have to pursuit him if we could have drafted and develeped

but we had to.... thats aleays gunna cost money...

hes probably my fav player already except laughie.. who came from another club too

bradshaw and rischetelli wouldnt have been as good for me though...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Lachie and Simmo are mine, I like Tuohy too but he's gone backwards this year.

Not really....
Have a massive gap on our list in the mid range age group due to years of failed draft picks being delisted.
Thomas and Andrejs fall into this age group.
Helps balance up the list, and give the group some decent experience.
Thomas will get much much better with time. People are marking him too harshly, and are forgetting he has missed a lot of football and a lot of the pre season too (didn't start to ramp up his training load til after Christmas).
Everrit, although patchy, has been one of our better players so far this year.

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James Hird and Essendon* FC - #FOREVERDRUGCHEATS

Both are high risk pick ups for a rebuilding side - Will they be guns in 5-6 years post rebuild?

5-6 years of footy? - we'd get the same from a host of players on our list currently that would perform similar roles (providing senior bodies).

Is 700k for thomas really a sensible choice given his injury issues over the past couple of years? We'd have been better off picking up an 18yo from the Betts compensation, or to pay a bit less for a 'lesser' FA (one without the injury concerns).

Similarly, Everitt has achieved very little to date -> its not unforeseeable that he won't be on the list in 5-6 yrs when the rebuild is done (in which case, we should have gone for an 18yo)

Everitt from what I've seen is a sufficient upgrade over:

Watson
White
McInnes
Bootsma
Rowe

And that's what worries me 4th Chicken. How you bottom out these days is going to be vital in whether you can build a premiership list. It pains me to say it, but St Kilda have made a great start on this score. Getting rid of Mcevoy and Dal Santo so they can draft youngsters to play alongside Riewoldt and Hayes was great foresight. There is a world of difference between finishing bottom four and playing Billings and Dunstan and finishing bottom four and playing Thomas and Everitt.

..DT is still finding his form, but you can see it already.. ..willingness to run, throwing himself at opposition bodies, taking the hits..

..leader.. ..I hope they did have that players' only meeting.. ..I hope they gave DT a soapbox, and let him rip....

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

He wants to suck more out of the club for his retirement.
He and Eddie are laughing all the way to the bank.

Exactly. IF malthouse decided midway through last year that we needed a rebuild, his actions haven't reflected that - and he should be sacked for looking for the short term.

Lets look at a 5 yr rebuild - armfield, warnock, murphy, gibbs, kreuzer, garlett are all within 6 mths of everitt/thomas ages and would have a reasonable chance of being around for at least MOST of the 5 yr rebuild. You then have slightly younger players with physically mature bodies such as touhy, henderson & yarran that would be the same.

That's 9 players that were already on the list that would be 28+ at the end of the rebuild - there are others on the list that might still make it (casboult, robinson, curnow etc) - thats a lot of players that could provide the mature bodies during a rebuild WITHOUT having to have gone for everitt/thomas - neither of which make sense for a rebuild.

Stocking up on thomas/everitt for a rebuild does nothing for the list - Better to have picked up a good pick for Betts last year, another good pick for gibbs this year and to trade another couple senior players in 2 years time as the younger ones come through (what the hawks did extremely well)

..hendo and krooz both 24, I think gibbles as well, maybe just turn 25..

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

IF we are talking rebuilds, white/rowe don't come into the equation. As for the others...

Consider the age profile of watson and bootsma (both sub 22). At the same age, everitt had done and was doing very little - in 2011, Everitt managed 11 games for the dogs and averaged just 8.6 disposals/game.

mcinness pre-knee showed more in his first few games than everitt ever did in his first few games.

If we are talking about contending in the here and now/immediate 1-2 years, I don't have an issue with the everitt trade. But then that is not the opinion of what is now being widely circulated (media/forums etc)

Why would it be a 5 year rebuild? How many clubs are doing that right now?

Your list has to be in a horrifying state and at square one for that kind of talk. I don't think we'd need to bite the bullet for more than 3 seasons (assuming we can't rally a bit this year), and we have enough of a spread of quality to try and stay competitive in that time.

We're not bottom 4, and when our heads are screwed on right we're top 8 material. Problem is we're not top 4 material which means we're not going to make a dent in the finals as things stand. Things can change.

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29 different attributes,
And only 7 that you like;
20 ways to see the world,
Or 20 ways to start a fight.

..you need a good mix of age/experience to help the kids into the system.. ..otherwise they won't develop properly.. ..suns and giants will buck the trend, but you can do that when you have sooo many good young kids coming through together at same time, but even then they have tried to get some older bodies in..

..normal teams can only bring in at most a handful of quality kids per year, and that is nailing all picks.. ..odds are you get a few good kids, so you need a mix of ages through the list.. ..everitt didn't cost much via trade, I don't think much in dollars, is versatile..

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

..too busy currently biting the pillow, but I agree five year plans are the province of 'the list manager'..

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

Comes down to your definition of a rebuild. In essence all clubs continually rebuild via the draft - however that is not how most people would take the term rebuild to mean.

How many players can you pick up in 3 yrs that will be playing as 'A-graders' at the end of your 3 yr rebuild cycle? Particularly given that the source of A-graders for most clubs will be via 18yos in the draft).

Assuming we bottom out this year, mid range the next couple before contending in 2018 - we might have added a 21yo A grader or two and a couple of 20 & 19yo future A-graders - Are these guys seriously going to help us push for a flag in 2018? Not really - we'd be relying a LOT more on what we have already on our list and what we might be able to bring in outside the draft (trade/free agents) -> effectively we are topping up, not rebuilding.

FWIW, I don't think our list is anywhere near as bad as we have shown thus far - and that is an indictment on and his ability to get the best out of our list...

What a load of shit.
Trublu, the king of the "inside word"

Less than 4 weeks ago, Mick said we were 1 minute away from our premiership window.
Now who do I believe about Micks thoughts. The man who consistently comes here with inside mail that turns out be be bullshit or the man himself?

I have no doubt Mick is horrified by what happened yesterday but he was as buoyant as anyone before the first round. He has misread the situation, just as the board and administration have. They're all culpable.

As for Thomas being a good trade, give me a break. 700k for a bloke that can no longer kick with any power on his dominant foot. Great value there!
We are desperate for key position strength and we pay tattslotto for a wingman with average skills. Legendary thinking.
The club should have saved the money and made an attack on GWS or GC. Get in 3rd/4th year players with long term futures.

But its OK, Mick knows how to build a list. It only took him 11 years to get a flag at the best resourced club in the AFL. Hell, with our champion administration, he can hold up the cup on his 89th birthday.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Dunstall On The Couch

"End up kicking to a contest"

"Doesn't appear to be belief in what they're doing"

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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch