If my memory serves me correctly, several years ago Hawthorn bottomed out. And where are they now? You need to accumulate good players to have any realistic chance at a Flag. Sure, player development and a strong culture helps, but if you don't have the cattle to begin with - forget it.
I am in no way interested in deliberately losing. But what I am interested in is offloading older players, no matter what their current form, when it's clear we're either -
No, I'm not going to "support" another team, nor am I going to apologise for being a realist. What the Crows absolutely must focus on at the moment is accumulating the best players, not whether we win or lose in coming weeks. Feel free to agree or disagree, but I'm not going to stop supporting the Crows....to win a Flag. Neil Craig had an amazing win-loss record, but what did he really achieve in Finals? F*ck all. The Crows are in a dynamic environment with rules that the AFL stipulates. At the moment, being (just) a "good" side is not good enough, where you need to take a realistic approach if you want to succeed.
- Not going to make the Finals
- Or only barely scrape into the Finals by our fingernails, only to get bundled out in straight sets.
True, Hawthorn did bottom out but was that by choice or were they just very ordinary at the time?
We would all love a heap of early draft picks but I reckon we can easily push top 4 next year with the list we have if we have a decent run with injuries and if we can get a bit of improvement and more consistency from the likes of Laird, Brown, M Crouch, Grigg, Cameron, etc.
I agree we need to move on a couple of older blokes and make some tough decisions.
TOO OLD:
Porps
Reilly
Rutten (a couple of games left depending on match ups)
Pods is holding his spot for now.
Thommo can have another year
DELIST:
Johnston
Graham
Osborn
McKernan deserves to be delisted but we probably have to keep him as cover for Jacobs and to keep Jenkins motivated.
GENUINE TRADE BAIT:
Lyons (we have too many insiders)
Wright (admirable player but we won't need him much longer)
Otten (happy to keep but also keen to trade for the right deal)
Mackay (injury prone/never hit his straps. Is he a free agent now?)
GET WHATEVER WE CAN:
Ellis-Yolmen (will never make it in my opinion)
Shaw (injury prone)
Patrenko (lost his spot to Betts and Cameron)
Our first priority in the draft/trade period needs to be a ruckman. If Jacobs goes down we'll be screwed. It's where we're most vulnerable.
Second priority is outside mids with good kicks.