Every recruiter has successes and failures. The success of the club doesn't solely rely on the recruiter. It is the development/fitness group, the medical department and the coaching staff that also have an input.

A number of years ago I spoke to some recruiters from Melbourne Storm. I asked them why had Melbourne Storm had so much success. Is it down to the recruiting, is it the coach in Craig Bellamy or is it getting generational talent in Smith, Slater and Cronk or is it all three? They replied that it was indeed all three. A month ago I met John Ribot who founded Melbourne Storm. I told him about that discussion and I asked him whether there was a fourth factor that being the administration. He said that Melbourne Storm had always had a good administration.

Most supporters are hopeful after the trade and draft period that the club is going in the right direction. Most would have been happy last year when we got rid of the injury prone players. It is only in hindsight you realise that it left a few holes. So we learn from our mistakes. We fix it up and we start again. We have to live in hope because the alternative is not too much fun.

Sent from my SM-S931B using Tapatalk

It’s much easier to be critical but rarely do list managers have a perfectly clean record.
SOS made a bad call to go after all those GWS players but I kind of understand what he was trying. We had nothing in the cupboard and zero trade capital. So he placed a few Hail Mary’s in the hope that we could get 2 or 3 wins instead of 1 mediocre draftee. Unfortunately, not much of that worked out and that’s on him. But at the time, it was pretty dire.
The strategy to build a spine, which takes longer to develop, and then fill in the mids and other gaps around them over time was sound but, again, unfortunately, the mids picked were not good enough, esp the high picks Paddy Dow, SPS, and O’Brien. At least Dow and SPS had their fans at the time. No-one was looking at O’Brien. And the Stocker/Kemp moves were a bit baffling. I’m still hopeful that Kemp will work out. FWIW, I think SOS was trying to be the first to make a move under live trading and probably thought he had nailed it at the time.
I think history does not look kindly on the outcome of SOS’ time at Carlton, apart from 2015 and TDk. But I do understand what he was going for. But it failed.

Personally, I think Austin’s moves this trading period and last year are impressive overall. We couldn’t go on again with Marchbank, Martin and Cunningham. Yes, it screwed us with depth but there is no guarantee any of them would have been available to step in anyway. And, to be honest, it wouldn’t have helped us make finals but without them, Voss was forced to play some kids who we did find out a bit about. And he turned nothing into Jagga Smith last year. I don’t think Houston set the world on fire and would have sucked out big $$.
And we were heading into this draft and trade period with not much to play with. And Harry Dean and Cody Walker on the horizon amidst changing father-son rules.
I am now feeling much better about our spread of talent, having acquired at least 3 players who are upgrades on who they will replace. I am sad to see Charlie go but if I am hard nosed about it, I think he has other priorities higher in his life than football and, rather than waiting another 2 years or more, we have cashed in when he is still hot. GWS did so with Jeremy Cameron and now they are real contenders.
TDK is a big loss …but not worth $1.8m or even $1.2m IMO. Very few players are worth that.
I think Austin has done pretty much as well as any other list manager, given the circumstances. (And if players like Charlie, TDK, JSOS or even Walsh next year want to leave, I don’t think that is on Austin.)

Finally, Graeme Wright has come in and taken a good look around. Clearly, he would have seen massive locker room morale issues and I don’t think he is sad to see Charlie or JSOS leave. (He got rid of Grundy, Treloar, Stephenson, and Ollie Henry. And everyone thought they would be shit after that...).
He would have seen how injuries cruelled our season. And, yes, I’m sure he has concerns about the game plan. His first port of call is to revamp the list, revamp the assistants (and therefore the game plan or the communication of it), replace the head of footy (I can’t tell you how much more confident I am in Davies than I was with Lloyd). He has not extended
Voss contract but has cleared the barnacles and will now be able to get a much clearer idea of whether Voss is the
Boss or he needs to be tossed.

I’m good with that. Adelaide was more disappointing last year than we were this year. Brisbane were just about ready to sack Fagan half way through 2024 with several observers suggesting they had ‘missed their window’ (well, to stamp his papers for an end of year sacking). And then they got rid of their best key forward… and still won the flag! Collingwood was supposedly destined for a bottom four finish after they ditched some of their stars.

We still have a bunch of stars. But now, we also have some 2nd tier class around them. I feel like we are more dynamic. Faster. More skillful. And… we are ready to load up on more high-end talent to support the stars in their prime, noting that Cripps is likely past his prime but still hopefully able to contribute strongly for another few years.

I’m optimistic. I appreciate not everyone is. I think we can rebound quickly, as other teams have done. I think our list is stronger now than it was a few weeks ago, and better positioned for the coming years. I am not 100% sure about Voss but I think we are in a better position to find out. We will see.

... and I was a bit disingenuous to contextualise the Binns pick but not any of SOS's duds - in my defence I was pursuing a loftier goal: winning the internet.

Putting my predicting hat on, I reckon the bid for Dean will come from Melbourne at #10 or #11.

1. West Coast - Duursma
2. Gold Coast - Uwland (match West Coast bid)
3. Brisbane - Annable (match West Coast bid)
4. West Coast - Sharp or Robey
5. Richmond - Taylor
6. Gold Coast - Patterson (match Richmond bid)
7. Richmond - Grlj
8. Scum - Duff-Tytler
9. Scum - Sharp, Robey or Cumming
10. Carlton - Dean (match Melbourne bid)
11. Melbourne - Sharp, Robey, Cumming or Greeves
12. Melbourne - Schubert or Marsh
13. Hawthorn - ???
14. Carlton - ???


Possible first round trade predictions…

Gold Coast will want Norf’s two picks in the early 20s.
Bulldogs & Hawks will trade out
Port will trade in
Adelaide will trade up
Scum will try and trade up, but will be told to @#$%&! off. A consequence of the Merrett deal torpedoing pick & player swaps in the exchange window.

It’s much easier to be critical but rarely do list managers have a perfectly clean record.
SOS made a bad call to go after all those GWS players but I kind of understand what he was trying. We had nothing in the cupboard and zero trade capital. So he placed a few Hail Mary’s in the hope that we could get 2 or 3 wins instead of 1 mediocre draftee. Unfortunately, not much of that worked out and that’s on him. But at the time, it was pretty dire.
The strategy to build a spine, which takes longer to develop, and then fill in the mids and other gaps around them over time was sound but, again, unfortunately, the mids picked were not good enough, esp the high picks Paddy Dow, SPS, and O’Brien. At least Dow and SPS had their fans at the time. No-one was looking at O’Brien. And the Stocker/Kemp moves were a bit baffling. I’m still hopeful that Kemp will work out. FWIW, I think SOS was trying to be the first to make a move under live trading and probably thought he had nailed it at the time.
I think history does not look kindly on the outcome of SOS’ time at Carlton, apart from 2015 and TDk. But I do understand what he was going for. But it failed.

Personally, I think Austin’s moves this trading period and last year are impressive overall. We couldn’t go on again with Marchbank, Martin and Cunningham. Yes, it screwed us with depth but there is no guarantee any of them would have been available to step in anyway. And, to be honest, it wouldn’t have helped us make finals but without them, Voss was forced to play some kids who we did find out a bit about. And he turned nothing into Jagga Smith last year. I don’t think Houston set the world on fire and would have sucked out big $$.
And we were heading into this draft and trade period with not much to play with. And Harry Dean and Cody Walker on the horizon amidst changing father-son rules.
I am now feeling much better about our spread of talent, having acquired at least 3 players who are upgrades on who they will replace. I am sad to see Charlie go but if I am hard nosed about it, I think he has other priorities higher in his life than football and, rather than waiting another 2 years or more, we have cashed in when he is still hot. GWS did so with Jeremy Cameron and now they are real contenders.
TDK is a big loss …but not worth $1.8m or even $1.2m IMO. Very few players are worth that.
I think Austin has done pretty much as well as any other list manager, given the circumstances. (And if players like Charlie, TDK, JSOS or even Walsh next year want to leave, I don’t think that is on Austin.)

Finally, Graeme Wright has come in and taken a good look around. Clearly, he would have seen massive locker room morale issues and I don’t think he is sad to see Charlie or JSOS leave. (He got rid of Grundy, Treloar, Stephenson, and Ollie Henry. And everyone thought they would be shit after that...).
He would have seen how injuries cruelled our season. And, yes, I’m sure he has concerns about the game plan. His first port of call is to revamp the list, revamp the assistants (and therefore the game plan or the communication of it), replace the head of footy (I can’t tell you how much more confident I am in Davies than I was with Lloyd). He has not extended
Voss contract but has cleared the barnacles and will now be able to get a much clearer idea of whether Voss is the
Boss or he needs to be tossed.

I’m good with that. Adelaide was more disappointing last year than we were this year. Brisbane were just about ready to sack Fagan half way through 2024 with several observers suggesting they had ‘missed their window’ (well, to stamp his papers for an end of year sacking). And then they got rid of their best key forward… and still won the flag! Collingwood was supposedly destined for a bottom four finish after they ditched some of their stars.

We still have a bunch of stars. But now, we also have some 2nd tier class around them. I feel like we are more dynamic. Faster. More skillful. And… we are ready to load up on more high-end talent to support the stars in their prime, noting that Cripps is likely past his prime but still hopefully able to contribute strongly for another few years.

I’m optimistic. I appreciate not everyone is. I think we can rebound quickly, as other teams have done. I think our list is stronger now than it was a few weeks ago, and better positioned for the coming years. I am not 100% sure about Voss but I think we are in a better position to find out. We will see.

Oliver Caffrey
@ollycaffrey

Carlton forward Francis Evans has secured a one-year deal after a brilliant end to the season

Are we specifically looking for a mature KPP to train on and ideally select? Is there a good KPP in the draft, or is that independent because any young draftee won't be ready to step in effectively if required this season?

Are there any KPP's we might draft if we get a chance in the first round?

I thought that had been confirmed a month ago?

We want one that can be ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Dean looks like he’s up for anything, just as Weitering was, but we don’t want to throw him at the likes of Hogan or two-metre Peter if we don’t have to.