- Jun 23, 2008
- 33,485
- 27,225
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- Norwood, Everton, Detroit Red Wings
CBF looking it up but from memory they took more players from other clubs than we did. Apart from Scully, Ward and Davis, I can’t recall any players that weren’t destined for the scrapheap (McDonald, Power, Cornes, Brogan)
They took Ablett, Harbrow, Rischitelli, Bock, Campbell - all players much younger than our old heads we recruited.
I don't think the age profile of those recruits was necessarily evidence of a "win now" mentality, considering the rest of the list was made up of teenagers and a few state-leaguers new to the AFL. It was always going to be a process, just like GWS, and experienced talent was needed to ease the transition into the league for the young guys, and at least be competitive.
Again, I think the club and league expected that the dollars and location would attract a higher level and volume of talent than it did initially. I think everyone underestimated the time a young list would take to develop, too, and all the on- and off-field teething problems along the way.