I'd say it's amazing how some fans can't see that you lose some players if you want to be ruthless and push for a Premiership. I think the Lyons situation is a bit like Cheney.
Hawks traded out Cheney (and Lowden) for an upgrade to pick 31. Why trade out a solid backman like Cheney for such a small upgrade? He is better than average, why wouldn't the Hawks continue with him? Well, they brought in a bloke called Frawley as a free agent - so they knew that Cheney was going to be worth very very little to their AFL 22. The guy they got with pick 31 (Howe) is a young tall rebounding defender with great disposal efficiency. They had a plan that meant they didn't need Cheney - so they got what they could for him and attempted to improve their list.
Hawks did the same with Anderson last year - everyone rated him, he played a lot of games for North - Hawks upgraded to pick 15 that they used on Burton.
We need to keep improving our list. That means getting better players in, and better picks. You can't keep hoping that pick 44 turns into Sloane. Use the trade, get free agents, upgrade at every opportunity.
The big difference is that Cheney was not best 22 for them. Surplus to requirements with Gibson, Lake and then Frawley. Akin to us trading Jake Kelly. Anderson was hardly best 22 either. Hawthorn are just fortunate their lesser players command high prices due to Hawthorn's strength.
Lyons is best 22 for us, and has probably been our third best midfielder this season, behind only Sloane and Matt Crouch. It's been apparent this year that we have a lack of quality pure midfielders, let alone ones who hit the scoreboard as well. This has been our biggest weakness for me this year.
Since we have played our oldies Thompson and van Berlo over potential replacements like Wigg and Ellis-Yolmen, we can't be so arrogant as to think that these guys will immediately step up and fill Lyons' void. Not to mention they might also request a trade if we decide to give Thompson another year, because our past selection indicates they won't be getting a game soon.
Also consider the great message it sends to our playing list and our supporters who want loyalty from the players. Lyons is a player I respect enormously for the character he has shown, staying loyal to the Crows and trying to improve himself rather than requesting a trade for more opportunities, when nobody would blame him for doing the latter. But nope, we would rather kick him to the kerb for a late second rounder once his value has increased. We don't need more average draft picks. We need established players to complement Sloane, Lyons and the Crouches in the middle.
Maybe this would be acceptable if we are getting a big fish like Rockliff or something fairly above his value like a first round pick, but I think it would be a terrible decision to trade him for a second round pick who we would spend years developing and may not even become as good as Lyons.