I don't know what paying TPP has to do with it. Henderson, Bell, Yarran were all already out the door so that would've freed up plenty of money which it obviously did because we took salary cap dumps.
The point is people were saying North were delusional for not bottoming out and trying to top up because of the state of their list just 5 months ago. Now they are a couple of good decisions or a little bit of luck away from pushing back up the ladder again.
Who knows maybe we should've been trying to attract good best 22 players rather than unproven kids.
The theory behind that path is pretty simple. People are of the belief that players develop when in a winning environment. Hence you don't need 15 first rounders because you can develop players taken with latter picks when you are in a successful side. When you are uncompetitive they don't develop into what they should be.
The theory is maybe in two years McKay, Pickett and Cuningham all become busts because they were in a poor environment for development. They believe that if a Geelong or Sydney ect took them they would of all became B graders simplify because of being part of a winning successful environment.
I have actually agreed with most of the clubs decisions but I think we may have gone too far down the youth path and now with this idea that we won't overpay anyone we are incapable of attracting good AFL level players to the club. We really don't have any other options other than play a very long patience game and the hard part is we still have no idea if we are just another Melbourne pre Roos yet.
There are so many holes in this argument I'm not sure where to start.
We couldn't really afford a big name player because we had so many overpaid hacks on our list I.e. Paying full TPP while on the bottom of the ladder.
Bell, Yarran, Henderson, Tuohy all left because our team was crap - so who were all these "good best 22 players" that were going to come to the same crap team that other players were leaving?
Tigers will sign FA Lynch because Reiwoldt etc are prepared to be paid "unders" - every time we overpay one player it stops us getting quality in somewhere else on the list.
So to to "overpay" recruits would take us all the way back to the very first point I made - we would have a mediocre team while paying full TPP - and no serious chance of winning a flag.
I'm satisfied with the strategy the club is following.
I completely agree it is "high risk" but IMHO we had no alternative if are serious about not wanting to be stuck in "no mans land" (6-12th on the ladder) but instead actually win a flag.
Better to have a red hot go than die wondering what might have been.