No we cannot have Fyfe for absolutely nothing at the end of next year. He becomes a RFA then the same as Dangerfield did last year and they had to cough up to get him. If anything, we would get him cheaper this year and have the Gibbs situation fall in our lap to facilitate it. There will also be an extraordinary bidding war for him next year with teams like St. Kilda and Hawthorn clearing salary cap space for him and in a more attractive position than us. Fremantle will also have the salary to match with no Pavlich and most likely no Sandilands. All they have to do is match to force a trade next year given he won't be an unrestricted free agent. People seem to forget this aspect of free agency. While Hawthorn are in a poor position to land him this year and St. Kilda have given away their 1st pick this year, this could be our opportunity to swoop.
He brings more than just his on-field ability. How he would help the development of Cripps, Cuningham, C. Curnow etc. and the ripple effects that would have on the team cannot be ignored. A generational player like that is the perfect guy at the perfect age to help this rebuild. The circumstances around us bringing in Judd were different and if we get Fyfe you can't say 'it's the old Carlton again' because in those years we drafted poorly and only took the one first round pick each year. We can get Fyfe and not make the same mistakes as last time re: drafting and list strategy. It's not a case of Fyfe vs. rebuild. We can do both.
If we can somehow do it this year effectively for Gibbs, we will still have a first round pick this year and next year so it's not like we are forgoing the rebuild and will still be bringing in young high-end talent. It would also mean we replace Gibbs with a younger, more talented player. Many were happy to keep Bryce going into next year so how would we be worse off if it's Fyfe on our list instead of Gibbs if we effectively turn it into a straight swap?
Highly unlikely that we get him but I just wanted to clarify a few things with your post that I don't see eye to eye on.