Someone made a comment in the Whitnall Retirement thread, that made me think about how quickly fortunes can change in football, and how Carlton ideally should try to have a strong list every year.

So how do we do that?

What measures need to be put in place to make sure we are constantly improving the list, to make sure we avoid 'down years' where the list ages and then suddenly needs to be re-built?

Is this possible?

As much as he annoys the hell out of me, and baring in mind he recently stuffed up their list, I think Sheedy historically has succeeded in constantly re-generating the Essendon* list by constantly introducing fresh young blood.

So many teams these days get to a stage where they think they are a couple of mature players away from going the distance. But more times than not this turns out to be fools gold. Is part of the trick then to not throw away early picks for mature talent when you're Premiership window is open but closing?

I look at Carlton now and I think in 3 years time we'll be a very strong side, one potentially capable of winning a Premiership. That will be 2010, and Fevola will be on the cusp of retirement with Stevens and Scotland almost certainly gone.

And then I think - we need to make sure we are constantly replacing the good players we lose through retirement.

I think part of the key is to NEVER trade away ones first round picks. David Parkin once said the "draft is the lifeblood of clubs". As random as he is these days with the stuff that comes out of his mouth, there's no doubt he's on the money with this one.

Obviously having a gun recruitment manager is vital. But is there more to it than this and having a rule on one's fist round picks? I just think the smart clubs in the future will be those that constantly re-generate their lists with talent, without having to bottom out for a few years (Port?).

Perhaps some clubs have already started doing this? I thought Collingwood for one were very sneaky to bottom out and get Thomas and Pendlebury. Is this the way then, for clubs to bottom out when they don't really need to, to get an injection of top end talent every few years? To keep the list re-freshed with young talent?

By the way Mods, I decided to post this in the Carlton section, as opposed to in the Recruitment section, because what I want to see is ways we can keep Carlton strong over time. But please feel free to move this to another section if you have a different take on things.

Never underestimate the value of the rookie draft , and Carltons Ireland experiment and present Foresite May prove to Pay Huge dividends , the draft aside Thinking OUTside the square may also be the 2 or 3 goals difference between winning a Premiership .

this whole re-gen argument sound sokay in theroy - but can you stay competitive AND win a flag?

i'm not convinced you can. and the system/premiership clock/cycle plus a dose of luck seems to be the best avenue to a flag.

having an extra large salary cap sure helps too.

realsitically who has stayed competitive and won title say 5-6 years apart?

maybe it's too early to say yet?

the pies did okay but still didn't win when it counts.

i think that you need to bottom out to have a fair chance at a flag these days. thats the system

and we are lucky that we are a part of it otherwise we may never have recovered from our recent black past.

i actually cannot think of a worse movie.....perhaps the 5th American pie.....................maybe

7.7/10 from 44,000 odd votes, so many people can't be wrong...


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/

I guess it comes down to personal taste... What did you not like about it??

Okay folks, let's stay pertinent.