I tend to agree with him. I recall a time past where StKilda had by far the best full forward, but it still didn't get us anywhere.
In fact, I would have thought that actually having him in the team was the major factor in us actually losing our basket-caseness and getting within cooee of a premiership. We probably would have just continued to suck in a huge way had we not had him, but we've now learned from that whole experience and know that you aren't going to get by on the back of one or two, even someone as good as Lockett, but that you need to bat deep and be strong in all areas, which is what I'm suggesting we do by getting Boyd and then looking to build our midfield and key defence posts from there.
If you were going to make that argument you did about Lockett you could counter that we had someone that was widely considered to be the best "mid" in the AFL in the late 90's (particularly in '97/98, when he won back to back Brownlow's), plus a couple of handy offsiders in Winmar and Burke and that that didn't get us a premiership either, so lets not bother going after "mids", because that didn't work out for us.
I don't think anyone that is suggesting we go after Boyd is suggesting that we just get him and then don't bother to look to build our future midfield after that, but more that we take this rare opportunity to get someone like Boyd and then continue to build the midfield after that, so that we have a balanced list and future team, with the aim of being strong in all areas, not just one or two.
Think of all the teams that have won the premiership since say 1998 and the strong tall options they had up forward on GF day and throughout that year:
1999: North- Carey, McKernan, Longmire
2000: Essendon- Lloyd, Lucas, Hird
2001: Brisbane- Brown, Lynch, Bradshaw
2002: Brisbane- Brown, Lynch
2003: Brisbane- Brown, Lynch, Bradshaw
2004: Port- Tredrea, Lade
2005: Sydney: Hall, Goodes
2006: West Coast: Lynch, Hansen
2007: Geelong: Mooney, Ottens, N Ablett
2008: Hawthorn- Franklin, Roughead
2009: Geelong- Hawkins, Mooney, Ottens
2010: Collingwood- Cloke, Dawes, Leigh Brown
2011: Geelong- Hawkins, Podsiadly, Ottens
2012: Sydney- Reid, Goodes, Pyke
As much as I like the prospects of White and Lee, I'd still absolutely love a huge "power forward" to go with them, rather than having a Hickey or Mac trying to play forward for the majority of the time long-term.
Then I think we'd have a huge chance at a premiership in a few years time, once we've added more high-end quality to our midfield group and hopefully a couple of really good options for the key defensive posts. That's what I think it's going to take to win a premiership any time in the near future, especially if GWS or Gold Coast happen to become the juggernaut's their lists suggest they could become.
