NimFromSudan
Club Legend
You’re being unrealistic with your expectations on several fronts
1. Who said anything about finals
2. How did Collingwood and Carlton perform in first couple of seasons ,how are we tracking by comparison
3. If you think we could have drafted a better player than Hosking with the pick it cost us , youre in la la land. There’s five or so very good players that come out of the women’s draft the rest pffft
4 we came bottom last year , we won’t this year
1. When I said "The bones of a finals team", i meant a framework to build towards finals in the next few years.
2. They have had three years of preferred draft access in a smaller competition, and could afford to have a crack at a flag straight out of the gate when their odds were one in eight. But now, they can on sell middle aged players to desperate clubs like us (see Melbournes strategy) and top up for years' to come.
3. Hosking is seven years older than a draftee, is at her peak now and is a good player but not a special player. I'd take Eliza McNamara any day, because she'll get to where Hosking is within those seven years and in the meantime, she's already a handy player. This is what I mean about how we're taking 100 points of value now but giving up 200 over the life of a career.
A player like Grace Campbell could fill the same role as Hosking at a third the price, but we let the cheap option walk and paid overs for her replacement. We need veterans to fill the gaps, yes, but paying top 15 picks for them is mortgaging the future.
4. Congratulations to us. But the question is do we have the tools to build up to the next rung next year? If you take this list and add picks 4, 18, 32, 46, are we rising relative to Carlton with picks 7, 21, 35 and 49?
I'd say we've got at least two really crappy seasons ahead of us, and we can't afford to keep crapping away what little draft value we do have access to by constantly falling at tactical hurdles.