List Mgmt. 2025 List Management III 📃

[Red_man2008]

I'm fine with Walsh's kicking.... until he gets to the forward 50. Then his brain disintegrates. I wonder how much of that is him trying to follow coach's instructions? Either way, he does need to sort it out as he gets so much of the ball.

I wish he’d just kick inside 50 on angle ms rather than straight ahead which is his issue with weighting it correctly. On an angle it allows the forward to go harder at the ball or stop and wrestle.

 

[GreenPen]

I can see lord's ceiling being similar to Hewett and I reckon that's a pretty decent outcome for a player from a non traditional pathway.

Yep that would be great if he can get to that level.

But if we have 12 players on our list between 21 and 24, and the only green shoot we have is a Cooper Lord type who MIGHT get to a level of a workhorse George Hewett type then it's still pretty concerning.

We really have been ****ed by changes to the F/S bidding, we lost two generational talents in TDK and Charlie (and got a good pick for a solid contributor in JSOS)

We should've been able to stockpile talent whilst also retaining our rights to players like Dean, Ison and Walker. Instead we have effectively had to shed the above players just to get access to those players.

I think we need to be targetting a player in the 24-25 age range to pair with Walsh to help bring that 'talent' through.


We've also been ****ed by another list manager with the complete inability to identify midfield talent, but that's another story

 

[Blue__Balls]

Yep that would be great if he can get to that level.

But if we have 12 players on our list between 21 and 24, and the only green shoot we have is a Cooper Lord type who MIGHT get to a level of a workhorse George Hewett type then it's still pretty concerning.

We really have been ****ed by changes to the F/S bidding, we lost two generational talents in TDK and Charlie (and got a good pick for a solid contributor in JSOS)

We should've been able to stockpile talent whilst also retaining our rights to players like Dean, Ison and Walker. Instead we have effectively had to shed the above players just to get access to those players.

I think we need to be targetting a player in the 24-25 age range to pair with Walsh to help bring that 'talent' through.


We've also been ****ed by another list manager with the complete inability to identify midfield talent, but that's another story

Umm...Cowan, Hollands, Motlop, Chesser, O'Keeffe, and if we stretch the age range just 12 months you can add Kemp, Evans, Moir and Carroll? Those are the ones I think we could assess as Green Shoots at the very least, while there are a few others with question marks (Wilson, Young, Duffy, Monahan).

We've got some good youth in that range, the issue has been balancing the 22 (23) in a way that gave us a good shot at winning games while we believed we were in our window, as well as affording some opportunities for the youngsters. I reckon if you look at most non-rebuilding sides, they're only adding 1 or maybe 2 <22yo players to their "best 22" each year. Either a highly rated draftee who slots straight in, or a kid who has spent 2-3 years developing for the most part in the ressies.

I think Cowan and Hollands have very much established themselves in the last couple of years, Motlop and Evans are almost certainly be considered best 22 by the club, Kemp would be if not for injury, Moir and Carroll are in the 20-25 range and showing good signs, O'Keeffe was a developing tall just coming into selection consideration now, and Chesser is new to the club this year.

Coming through behind that we're gonna have Smith, O'Farrell, Dean, Ison and Walker as well-regarded young players, plus a few with more work ahead of them but still plenty of reason to be positive about (Charleson, Campos x2, Byrne).

 

[GreenPen]

Umm...Cowan, Hollands, Motlop, Chesser, O'Keeffe, and if we stretch the age range just 12 months you can add Kemp, Evans, Moir and Carroll? Those are the ones I think we could assess as Green Shoots at the very least, while there are a few others with question marks (Wilson, Young, Duffy, Monahan).

We've got some good youth in that range, the issue has been balancing the 22 (23) in a way that gave us a good shot at winning games while we believed we were in our window, as well as affording some opportunities for the youngsters. I reckon if you look at most non-rebuilding sides, they're only adding 1 or maybe 2 <22yo players to their "best 22" each year. Either a highly rated draftee who slots straight in, or a kid who has spent 2-3 years developing for the most part in the ressies.

I think Cowan and Hollands have very much established themselves in the last couple of years, Motlop and Evans are almost certainly be considered best 22 by the club, Kemp would be if not for injury, Moir and Carroll are in the 20-25 range and showing good signs, O'Keeffe was a developing tall just coming into selection consideration now, and Chesser is new to the club this year.

Coming through behind that we're gonna have Smith, O'Farrell, Dean, Ison and Walker as well-regarded young players, plus a few with more work ahead of them but still plenty of reason to be positive about (Charleson, Campos x2, Byrne).

Yep you have named the players in that age range. Are they particularly talented?

Cowan- might be ok. Will probably just be a solid contributor.

Hollands- seen enough to know he is just going to be an average player. Has great work rate. Poor foot skills and lacks leg speed.

Motlop- lacks tools to be a dangerous small forward, does not impact the game when he goes into the middle.

HOK- haven't seen enough yet.

Evans- been delisted by two clubs. Had a good back end of the year and people are getting carried away.

Motlop and Evans are considered best 22? That's great for them. I don't that strikes any fear into the 17 other clubs.

Kemp- ok player if he can get on the park, has had a lot of serious injuries that I don't think we will ever see his ceiling.

Moir- is interesting, has some tools but not sure has the application.

Carroll- has done well to get on a list. Might end up being a workhorse type.

The inital post mentioned young 'talent'. There's probably different understandings of what 'talent' is.

I look at the above and fast forward 3-5 year when the above are in their prime ages. I'm not seeing any of those players being of note and putting the club in a position to help develop the younger talent that you mentioned (Smith, O'Farrell, Dean, Ison and Walker)

 

[Blue__Balls]

Yep you have named the players in that age range. Are they particularly talented?

Cowan- might be ok. Will probably just be a solid contributor.

Hollands- seen enough to know he is just going to be an average player. Has great work rate. Poor foot skills and lacks leg speed.

Motlop- lacks tools to be a dangerous small forward, does not impact the game when he goes into the middle.

HOK- haven't seen enough yet.

Evans- been delisted by two clubs. Had a good back end of the year and people are getting carried away.

Motlop and Evans are considered best 22? That's great for them. I don't that strikes any fear into the 17 other clubs.

Kemp- ok player if he can get on the park, has had a lot of serious injuries that I don't think we will ever see his ceiling.

Moir- is interesting, has some tools but not sure has the application.

Carroll- has done well to get on a list. Might end up being a workhorse type.

The inital post mentioned young 'talent'. There's probably different understandings of what 'talent' is.

I look at the above and fast forward 3-5 year when the above are in their prime ages. I'm not seeing any of those players being of note and putting the club in a position to help develop the younger talent that you mentioned (Smith, O'Farrell, Dean, Ison and Walker)

I think you need to readjust your expectations.

Motlop and Evans don't strike fear into other clubs? Neither do about 18 best 22 players on any given list. It's not a fair benchmark for any player, and is reserved for the absolute elite players.

If your concerns is that we don't have generational talents in the 21-24 age range, why is that a necessity? Fast forward 3-5 years and Smith, Dean and Walker are coming into their own, there's your elite few. Rewind a few years and it was Cripps, Weitering, Curnow and McKay. This stuff is cyclical, it's simply not reasonable to expect any club to always have elite 21-24yo players at all times.

 

[LFTWNG11]

Yep you have named the players in that age range. Are they particularly talented?

Cowan- might be ok. Will probably just be a solid contributor.

Hollands- seen enough to know he is just going to be an average player. Has great work rate. Poor foot skills and lacks leg speed.

Motlop- lacks tools to be a dangerous small forward, does not impact the game when he goes into the middle.

HOK- haven't seen enough yet.

Evans- been delisted by two clubs. Had a good back end of the year and people are getting carried away.

Motlop and Evans are considered best 22? That's great for them. I don't that strikes any fear into the 17 other clubs.

Kemp- ok player if he can get on the park, has had a lot of serious injuries that I don't think we will ever see his ceiling.

Moir- is interesting, has some tools but not sure has the application.

Carroll- has done well to get on a list. Might end up being a workhorse type.

The inital post mentioned young 'talent'. There's probably different understandings of what 'talent' is.

I look at the above and fast forward 3-5 year when the above are in their prime ages. I'm not seeing any of those players being of note and putting the club in a position to help develop the younger talent that you mentioned (Smith, O'Farrell, Dean, Ison and Walker)

Spot on. We have a bottom 8 list anyway you cut it.

 

[Lukeblueboy]

Spot on. We have a bottom 8 list anyway you cut it.

So where a genuine chance to make top 10 then? Perfect, where in the hunt

 

[The Return of the Paf]

Yep that would be great if he can get to that level.

But if we have 12 players on our list between 21 and 24, and the only green shoot we have is a Cooper Lord type who MIGHT get to a level of a workhorse George Hewett type then it's still pretty concerning.

We really have been ****ed by changes to the F/S bidding, we lost two generational talents in TDK and Charlie (and got a good pick for a solid contributor in JSOS)

We should've been able to stockpile talent whilst also retaining our rights to players like Dean, Ison and Walker. Instead we have effectively had to shed the above players just to get access to those players.

I think we need to be targetting a player in the 24-25 age range to pair with Walsh to help bring that 'talent' through.


We've also been ****ed by another list manager with the complete inability to identify midfield talent, but that's another story

You can't get the required talent, keep Walsh and target another "player in 24-25 age range" at the same time. We'll be lucky to do two of those things, particularly if we finish higher on the ladder, with no prize coming our way.
,
People don't take any notice of cause and effect, they only know what they want. Even a list manager, however bad or good, can't make something out of nothing.

 

[Blue and Silver]

Talent cannot be defined as being a star player, because by definition, there can only be a few stars.

Talent should mean the ability to perform at or above the expected level in the AFL.

When you are drafting players, you don't just look for guys who can be match-winners. You also look for solid citizens, role players and depth options.

Stars are important, but a star on every line doesn't mean you will win a premiership.

 

[Coona Blues]

You can't get the required talent, keep Walsh and target another "player in 24-25 age range" at the same time. We'll be lucky to do two of those things, particularly if we finish higher on the ladder, with no prize coming our way.
,
People don't take any notice of cause and effect, they only know what they want. Even a list manager, however bad or good, can't make something out of nothing.

What our current naysayers don’t realise that we have had a top heavy list for so long with few middle of the road or young players offering any trade collateral. We have “overpaid” to keep the guys we have needed to and maintained a mid table spot for a couple of years, meaning mediocre draft capital as well.

We showed some balls and let some higher profile blokes go and we have now had the picks to upgrade the list. We have (in my opinion) a much deeper mix of good quality youngsters and some solid or better players in their prime. We should now be in the position of having multiple options in most positions. From that base we can either develop some potential young stars or trade/ draft some quality options to build out the group. There is even the possibility/probability of quality players missing out on the top team and becoming potentially premium trade options to build the list.

I have been optimistic about the list for a while. So many on here have become defeatist because we have lost some perceived top end talent. I genuinely believe the additions we have made are superior as a unit/whole to what we have lost. The cohesiveness of the group will most likely be enhanced significantly.

Unfortunately the AFL changes to Academy and Father/son has eaten in to our hard won draft capital, but we have acquired some outstanding prospects, with Cody Walker still to come. We can now bank some salary cap along with some excellent draft picks in the next couple of years and attack (potentially) all of the draft, trade and free agency methods to upgrade the list in the next couple of years.

There is plenty of reason to be optimistic.

 

[circusdevil]

Yep you have named the players in that age range. Are they particularly talented?

Cowan- might be ok. Will probably just be a solid contributor.

Hollands- seen enough to know he is just going to be an average player. Has great work rate. Poor foot skills and lacks leg speed.

Motlop- lacks tools to be a dangerous small forward, does not impact the game when he goes into the middle.

HOK- haven't seen enough yet.

Evans- been delisted by two clubs. Had a good back end of the year and people are getting carried away.

Motlop and Evans are considered best 22? That's great for them. I don't that strikes any fear into the 17 other clubs.

Kemp- ok player if he can get on the park, has had a lot of serious injuries that I don't think we will ever see his ceiling.

Moir- is interesting, has some tools but not sure has the application.

Carroll- has done well to get on a list. Might end up being a workhorse type.

The inital post mentioned young 'talent'. There's probably different understandings of what 'talent' is.

I look at the above and fast forward 3-5 year when the above are in their prime ages. I'm not seeing any of those players being of note and putting the club in a position to help develop the younger talent that you mentioned (Smith, O'Farrell, Dean, Ison and Walker)

That is based on your hunch and has no basis in the reality. There is no evidence to suggest he isn't a hard worker ... in fact there is the opposite. Yes, he is a slow burn but it's not due to want or work rate.

 

[RPCB]

So where a genuine chance to make top 10 then? Perfect, where in the hunt

Funnily enough, the amount of times over the years I would read someone say that a particularly club is a “bottom 8 list” would do my head in. It’s like, mate, there are 18 clubs in the competition, not 16.

Now finally we can actually say that a club has a “bottom 8 list” ever since the finals series has increased to 10 clubs lol.

 

[Soapy V]

What our current naysayers don’t realise that we have had a top heavy list for so long with few middle of the road or young players offering any trade collateral. We have “overpaid” to keep the guys we have needed to and maintained a mid table spot for a couple of years, meaning mediocre draft capital as well.

We showed some balls and let some higher profile blokes go and we have now had the picks to upgrade the list. We have (in my opinion) a much deeper mix of good quality youngsters and some solid or better players in their prime. We should now be in the position of having multiple options in most positions. From that base we can either develop some potential young stars or trade/ draft some quality options to build out the group. There is even the possibility/probability of quality players missing out on the top team and becoming potentially premium trade options to build the list.

I have been optimistic about the list for a while. So many on here have become defeatist because we have lost some perceived top end talent. I genuinely believe the additions we have made are superior as a unit/whole to what we have lost. The cohesiveness of the group will most likely be enhanced significantly.

Unfortunately the AFL changes to Academy and Father/son has eaten in to our hard won draft capital, but we have acquired some outstanding prospects, with Cody Walker still to come. We can now bank some salary cap along with some excellent draft picks in the next couple of years and attack (potentially) all of the draft, trade and free agency methods to upgrade the list in the next couple of years.

There is plenty of reason to be optimistic.

Great post. Not sure what more we could have done

IMO Austin and Co did a great job last trade/pre season and if we are smart we can set ourselves up for next decade especially with Tassie coming in

 

[agro]

Yep you have named the players in that age range. Are they particularly talented?

Cowan- might be ok. Will probably just be a solid contributor.

Hollands- seen enough to know he is just going to be an average player. Has great work rate. Poor foot skills and lacks leg speed.

Motlop- lacks tools to be a dangerous small forward, does not impact the game when he goes into the middle.

HOK- haven't seen enough yet.

Evans- been delisted by two clubs. Had a good back end of the year and people are getting carried away.

Motlop and Evans are considered best 22? That's great for them. I don't that strikes any fear into the 17 other clubs.

Kemp- ok player if he can get on the park, has had a lot of serious injuries that I don't think we will ever see his ceiling.

Moir- is interesting, has some tools but not sure has the application.

Carroll- has done well to get on a list. Might end up being a workhorse type.

The inital post mentioned young 'talent'. There's probably different understandings of what 'talent' is.

I look at the above and fast forward 3-5 year when the above are in their prime ages. I'm not seeing any of those players being of note and putting the club in a position to help develop the younger talent that you mentioned (Smith, O'Farrell, Dean, Ison and Walker)

You’d think if we had immense confidence in all these players then Elijah Hollands would have been just shown the door without any chance of a reprieve - the fact we’ve left the door ajar for him indicates we’re not fully convinced about our “young talent”.

 

[Soapy V]

Spot on. We have a bottom 8 list anyway you cut it.

Bottom 8 in 2026 (based on youth) if we are building for 2027 and beyond is fine IMO

 

[The Blue Weirdo]

You’d think if we had immense confidence in all these players then Elijah Hollands would have been just shown the door without any chance of a reprieve - the fact we’ve left the door ajar for him indicates we’re not fully convinced about our “young talent”.

I believe the club rates a 'focused' Eli much higher than any other unlisted player available.

 

[agro]

I believe the club rates a 'focused' Eli much higher than any other unlisted player available.

I’d say if we rated our overall general talent better - he’d probably wouldn’t get a second chance regardless of whether we rated him higher than any other unlisted player available.

 

[teddy-hopkins]

Yep that would be great if he can get to that level.

But if we have 12 players on our list between 21 and 24, and the only green shoot we have is a Cooper Lord type who MIGHT get to a level of a workhorse George Hewett type then it's still pretty concerning.

We really have been ****ed by changes to the F/S bidding, we lost two generational talents in TDK and Charlie (and got a good pick for a solid contributor in JSOS)

We should've been able to stockpile talent whilst also retaining our rights to players like Dean, Ison and Walker. Instead we have effectively had to shed the above players just to get access to those players.

I think we need to be targetting a player in the 24-25 age range to pair with Walsh to help bring that 'talent' through.


We've also been ****ed by another list manager with the complete inability to identify midfield talent, but that's another story

It's a fair point.

The onus is on our club to have a really good 2026 on field and become a destination club. Then we can go after a free agent or two to level the ledger. We'll have huge cap space.

Also don't forget Hayward and Ainsworth are 2 ins we really targeted.

We have to move on from "winning" trade week and build a GF winning team instead. GW seems to be getting us on that path.

 

[The Blue Weirdo]

I’d say if we rated our overall general talent better - he’d probably wouldn’t get a second chance regardless of whether we rated him higher than any other unlisted player available.

Only Brizzy could afford to leave a few list spots vacant...dunno what level of f**kups he's comitted. But if it's all sorted then bring on the pre season Half Forward competition I say.

 

[JustOneTime]

I think our current list mgmt situation has to take into account other related factors besides looking only at our list in isolation to understand our current chances of anything other than mediocrity.

We are building a list right now while facing...

• A significant tactical gameday shift from inside grunt/contested game to outside run/elite kick impact game brought on by a decrease in gameday substitutions and an increase in set plays out of defence (almost gridiron play like). Carton has been the slowest respondent to this shift with Kennedy/Setters/Stocker and more recently Hewett, B Campo and C Lord. The opportunity cost of not trading / drafting for a kicker hurts us now at a time when an elite kick is everything.
• A significant move from a history of 'draft as many good players as you can (best available)' to a considerable move towards needs for tactical movement of the ball and roles. Carlton (Voss) have said the words but not taken the actions as he forever and a day plays inside midfielders in preference when there is a missing player, e.g. playing both Setters and Lord on the wing. The move to 'needs' allows smart clubs like Hawthorn/Crows to not have to wait for a complete list of stars to happen and are now challenging ahead of the list mgmt time curve.
• There is a significant shift to putting elite kickers in the back half to support the best possible scenario of tactical repetition. That is getting a turnover from a loose inside 50 kick, setting up and rebounding to score. This is on the improve and clubs are looking for an out an out star quarterback or two to help with this. Carlton dont have one elite kick out of defence and zero on the horizon.
• When thinking of where we stand we face two daunting prospects...Gold Coast will outdraft us every year and will end up having talent on EVERY line with the current way of things plus having trade capital every year. Lions have had the miracle piece of luck/timing and do have a list of elite talent almost everywhere, so much so they dont even care if kiddy coleman comes back with his elite kicking. We dont even have a coleman type of kicker. I def concede Brizzy are just an elite 12+ players side who play like Carlton do but just have much more talent. If they didnt get that rub of the green they would be in the same basket as Carlton, Melbourne and Port. Just no idea of what is going on in the game.
• People cite the additions of the Ainsworth and the two Sydney players that we are learning...I beg to differ and say they just got what the opportunity gave up. A decent haul i agree but no pattern in it. Those players wont come into play to their true abilities without decent kicks coming out defence. No one can kick an elite pas from defence. There is no second tall defender like JSoS showed us what we were missing. So the defenders crumble mentally and lose their confidence. That second defender with spirit/physicality has been missing for 5+ years. List mgmt stupidity.
• Other clubs really understand Carlton's contest/grunt game. they know how to counter it. Its so simple. Carlton Win stoppage and rush kick it...kick high into fwd line to big tall. It's so easy to set up the counter game and have your elite kickers in the right place to help here. Conversely Carlton dont understand at all what a Hawthorn does and doesnt have any counter moves...the game just peeters out to a dead loss without a whimper...
• Anyone else noticing this trend in 2025. Usually clubs with a 20-26 pt lead in the last get ready for an onslaught late in the game and go for a tactical tight closed down game win. When Carlton were down 20-25 pts, most times in 2025 nothing...not a yelp because against certain clubs they dont actually know how to get into the game competitively.
• The new forwards are only as effective as the incoming kcks allow. We have learnt that over the last ten years....maybe not.

Other posters saying we did our best given last years trade period, i totally agree with that. I don't agree the club did a good job on identifying the right type of player to support the initial talented core build players from 2015 + Cripps. Now we are caught in no mans land. We have to pay for walker...we have players that are ending soon that need replacing...we have the picks to replace but not improve.

As for our list, the back half is filled with hopeful young qtrback players that i cant see push past a 6/10 myself. I guess one will make it to good based on history/odds. This back half (Saad/Weiterng/Haynes) aside is why i think we are struggleville. Hollands is a winger. Haynes and Saad retire in a year.

I do allow for us to play a better brand of footy and that could give us a good hit in ladder position without threatening. Voss has been awful but maybe he can change...i do hope he can to start the process of making Carlton relevant tactically.

I personally believe we are 2 kickers away and a 3 year wait for the second tall defenders to impact. The game currently starts from there on set pieces.

 

[circusdevil]

Newman helps & Carroll is potentially one of the kickers you are looking for.

 

[thebluenewdeal]

Newman helps & Carroll is potentially one of the kickers you are looking for.

Still have Boyd on the list too.

 

[TD2010]

I'm fine with Walsh's kicking.... until he gets to the forward 50. Then his brain disintegrates. I wonder how much of that is him trying to follow coach's instructions? Either way, he does need to sort it out as he gets so much of the ball.

Walsh doesn't have a soft touch, he tries to but there's a stiffness to him kicking it, he places it instead. The great kickers have 'touch'. Braddles had it in spades (not his left though).

 

[GreenPen]

I’d say if we rated our overall general talent better - he’d probably wouldn’t get a second chance regardless of whether we rated him higher than any other unlisted player available.

My next point was going to be that of all the players in that age range, E. Hollands would be the only one with quantifiable talent.

And evidence of said talent. So I hope we can relist him and he can turn it around.

What our current naysayers don’t realise that we have had a top heavy list for so long with few middle of the road or young players offering any trade collateral. We have “overpaid” to keep the guys we have needed to and maintained a mid table spot for a couple of years, meaning mediocre draft capital as well.

We showed some balls and let some higher profile blokes go and we have now had the picks to upgrade the list. We have (in my opinion) a much deeper mix of good quality youngsters and some solid or better players in their prime. We should now be in the position of having multiple options in most positions. From that base we can either develop some potential young stars or trade/ draft some quality options to build out the group. There is even the possibility/probability of quality players missing out on the top team and becoming potentially premium trade options to build the list.

I have been optimistic about the list for a while. So many on here have become defeatist because we have lost some perceived top end talent. I genuinely believe the additions we have made are superior as a unit/whole to what we have lost. The cohesiveness of the group will most likely be enhanced significantly.

Unfortunately the AFL changes to Academy and Father/son has eaten in to our hard won draft capital, but we have acquired some outstanding prospects, with Cody Walker still to come. We can now bank some salary cap along with some excellent draft picks in the next couple of years and attack (potentially) all of the draft, trade and free agency methods to upgrade the list in the next couple of years.

There is plenty of reason to be optimistic.

That's terrific that you can find plenty of reason to be optimistic.
I will remain pessimistic about the state of our list, however I still will buy my membership and go to games and support the team as per.

I agree that we made good calls to let high profile players go. We did get some good picks in.

However, with the changes that the AFL made with F/S and academy selections, we definitely didn't get full value for them.
I am not saying that this is the club's fault, this is out of their control.

I agree we should be banking some salary cap and look at some free agency methods to upgrade the list.
I mentioned above we should be looking at someone in this age range to pair with Walsh.

Apparently we can't keep young talent, keep Walsh and target someone else in the 24-25 age range to pair with Walsh? We can only do two of those things.

We just shed Charlie, TDK and Silvagni and the only player that we brought in (that the other club was kind of arsed about losing ws Hayward)

I would hope with McGovern and Williams also toward the end of their contract then there would be enough cap to be able to keep Walsh and target someone else.
If we can't then there is something wrong

 

[ItsAllAboutMe]

My next point was going to be that of all the players in that age range, E. Hollands would be the only one with quantifiable talent.

And evidence of said talent. So I hope we can relist him and he can turn it around.




That's terrific that you can find plenty of reason to be optimistic.
I will remain pessimistic about the state of our list, however I still will buy my membership and go to games and support the team as per.

I agree that we made good calls to let high profile players go. We did get some good picks in.

However, with the changes that the AFL made with F/S and academy selections, we definitely didn't get full value for them.
I am not saying that this is the club's fault, this is out of their control.

I agree we should be banking some salary cap and look at some free agency methods to upgrade the list.
I mentioned above we should be looking at someone in this age range to pair with Walsh.

Apparently we can't keep young talent, keep Walsh and target someone else in the 24-25 age range to pair with Walsh? We can only do two of those things.

We just shed Charlie, TDK and Silvagni and the only player that we brought in (that the other club was kind of arsed about losing ws Hayward)

I would hope with McGovern and Williams also toward the end of their contract then there would be enough cap to be able to keep Walsh and target someone else.
If we can't then there is something wrong

The salary cap has increased, however none of our current lot have deserved significant pay increases so we should have plenty of room available. Hayward, Florent & Ainsworth would not have been on huge $ at Sydney or GC, we had 1mil for Charlie, 1mil was on the table for TDK and were prepared to give Jack $600k.. We have shed some big $ poor contracts from Jack Martin & McGovern and Williams will be off his at seasons end, and havent replaced them.. Walsh is the only big $ signing, but he would already be on say $900k, if we upgrade that to 1.2mil then its not going to break us.

Jagga Smith is on his rookie wage and comes off contract in 27, I imagine that we would already be in talks about an extension which prob goes to $800k, we may choose to extend Cody straight away if we have room available. I think long term our list position is very healthy and allows us flexibility to chase a FA or a needs based trade acquisition.