Long Post Warning:
Ok time for a classic Blue & Silver over-thinking exercise.
The idea here is to document our current list and note future requirements.
To do so, I will make a couple of assumptions:
a) Any player who would start a season aged over 31 will be assumed to have retired. It's arbitrary, but better to have a hard rule then try and argue why one player might play on, and another won't.
b) All players currently listed will be assumed to be listed over the entire period. This is not because I expect they will be. By utilising this assumption I can project what holes we would have on our list based upon our current squad.
So first things first, what is our current list, broken down by player type:
Player Types: Small Forward (SF) Medium Forward (MF) Tall Forward (TF) Mid Forward (MidF) Inside Mid (IM) Outside Mid (OM) Ruck (R) Small Defender (SD) Medium Defender (MD) Tall Defender (TD)
Small Forward: Jed Lamb, Liam Sumner, Denis Armfield, Jarrod Pickett, Kym LeBois, Andrew Gallucci,
Medium Forward: Jack Silvagni, Charlie Curnow, Pat Kerr
Tall Forward: Harry McKay, Kristian Jaksch, Levi Casboult
Mid Forward: Rhys Palmer, Zac Fisher, Cameron Polson, Dale Thomas, Matthew Wright
Inside Mid: Bryce Gibbs, Patrick Cripps, David Cuningham, Nick Graham, Ed Curnow
Outside Mid: Marc Murphy, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Sam Kerridge, Blaine Boekhorst, Billie Smedts
Ruck: Matthew Kreuzer, Andrew Phillips, Daniel Gorringe, Matthew Korcheck
Small Defender: Kade Simpson, Dylan Buckley
Medium Defender: Sam Docherty, Lachie Plowman, Tom Williamson, Ciaran Byrne, Simon White, Ciaran Sheehan
Tall Defender: Liam Jones, Sam Rowe, Caleb Marchbank, Jacob Weitering, Harrison Macreadie, Jesse Glass-McCasker, Alex Silvagni
And now our best 22 next year, assuming all players over 31 retire:
B: Docherty (24), Rowe (30), Plowman (23)
HB: Williamson (19), Marchbank (22), Byrne (23)
C: Petrevski-Seton (20), Cripps (23), Murphy (30)
HF: Wright (28), Weitering (20), J. Silvagni (20)
F: Fisher (19), McKay (20), Sumner (24)
R: Kreuzer (28), Gibbs (29), E. Curnow (28)
I/C: C.Curnow (21), Lamb (25), Cuningham (20), Polson (20)
And the best 22 3 years from now:
B: Docherty (26), Macreadie (21), Plowman (25)
HB: Williamson (21), Marchbank (24), Byrne (26)
C: Petrevski-Seton (22) Cripps (25), Fisher (21)
HF: Wright (30) Weitering (22) J.Silvagni (22)
F: Pickett (23), McKay (22), Sumner (26)
R: Kreuzer (30) Cuningham (22) E.Curnow (30)
I/C: C.Curnow (23), Lamb (27), Smedts (26), Polson (22)
And 5 years:
B: Docherty (28) Macreadie (23) Plowman (27)
HB: Williamson (23) Marchbank (26) Byrne (28)
C: Petrevski-Seton (24) Cripps (27), Fisher (23)
HF: Polson (24) Weitering (24) J. Silvagni (24)
F: Pickett (25) McKay (24) Sumner (28)
R: Gorringe (30) Cuningham (24) C. Curnow (25)
I/C: Lamb (29), Smedts (28), Boekhorst (29) Kerridge (29)
So what does this tell us:
1. Our list is sufficiently young that we could feasibly field a team in 5 years of players 30 or younger from the current list.
2. The backline is effectively sorted (depth of course would need rejuvenation)
3. Our midfield would be dependent on Cuningham/Curnow/Fisher/Polson success. Could definitely use depth
4. Our forward line does not have enough long-term AFL goal-kicking power. An immediate priority.
5. A ruck project is needed for the long-term. Kreuzer/Phillips is good cover for the medium term but we need to draft/acquire a player who will be playing in 5 years. Gorringe is a long shot.
So our recruiting strategy should focus on, in order:
Goal-kicking forwards
Midfield talent
Project ruck
Backline depth
All players capable of being played 5 years from now.