Dodo27 wrote:
Why would you give up a 1st Draft Pick for 2025? This is insane!
The Club is moving closer to a new rebuild, the Premiership Window is coming to an end in the next 1-2 years if we don't Win one. Some of our guns are reaching the end of their Careers, especially our Captain, so what's going to happen if we get Houston, give up 1st round picks and more, then fail to Win a Premiership?
We will have no solid picks to build a team around. Instead, the club will resort to getting recycled players to fill the Gaps and seek success that is doomed and will never happen.
If we are in a premiership window, then wouldn't you be trying to add mature talent to your list to make the final push?
You can't rebuild a team while pushing for a premiership at the same time.
Giving up one future first is hardly putting us on track to doom.
Houston should deliver for us for the next 3-5 years at least, enough time for Wilson, Campo boys, pick 11 & 31 this draft to mature.
Our Captain is only 30 next year, he's got a few more years IMO.
The only other key players getting to the pointy end in the next couple are Newman, Saad & Doc.
We are already drafting and putting players in place to take over from them and Houston is one of those for a few extra years.
And maybe Lord is going to be Cripps replacement.
This is what clubs like Geelong have been doing for the better part of a decade.
So I'm confused as to why it's so dramatic for us to be doing the same.
Just remember, Cook would have laid all the ground work for us to be competitive and continually build on our list in the same manner Geelong has.
We just need to remove some injured players and add some speed and skill and we will be ok.
Houston has both that and is a guaranteed, unlike a draft pick 2 drafts away and 5 years before we know (well outside our window).
And if we want to keep attracting good mature talent like Geelong then we need to be playing finals every year.
Topping up a list now using picks should help us top up our list without using them in the future.
Geelong have the oldest list again this year and could well be in another GF.
That is why so many free agents want to play for them, they know they will play finals and probably in a GF with a good chance of a premiership before they retire.