He was front loaded, partly for tactical reasons to scare off rivals at the draft, and also because we knew we had to keep some room free for potential pay increases to Pendles Sidebottom Beams etc. Ball got on average about the same he was getting at StKilda, which was a good pay packet.
As I said, his initial contract price was a gambit to get him to the Pies. In the end he got about $350k, which is hardly a "big money" recruit.
The Wood trade was fine, I agree. It was medium term thinking. Didnt work out only because he was a party boy. But it was not designed to bring us immediate success. There was no urgency to the trade, unlike Jolly and Ball who were expected to make an immediate impact.
Your list was at a different stage. I'd say Wood's recruitment was aimed at him having an impact around 2010. So no surprise that when you got there and Wood wasn't looking like delivering, you took the rare opportunity of recruiting a premiership ruckman who could. The point being that the reasons behind wanting a ruckman who could have immediate impact can be seen as nothing more than reasons of list management and opportunity. Claiming it as being a result of the succession simply because it correlates with the succession plan is simple minded IMO.