It's quite easy to be critical when they're having a down period - last year those same kids, plus some quality mature players, surpassed all expectations. It's no secret that Ablett is crucial to that midfield - perhaps a little too crucial. But when you've got the best player in the game standing next to you most weeks, it can take a while to adjust when he's suddenly not there. They're missing their key forwards at the moment as well. The effort simply hasn't been there and it's hard to judge talent when it isn't.
Martin will take a bit more time but is an exceptional talent. O'Meara is out for the year but is a genuine talent also. Prestia, Swallow, Bennell and Kolodjashnij would walk into most teams in the competition as midfielders who can play elsewhere. For key position players, Lynch will be exceptional, Dixon is very solid but constantly injured, May is one of the better young key defenders in the league and Thompson looks like being so too. In the ruck both Zac Smith and Tom Nicholls have shown flashes of star potential and are still very young for ruckmen. Gorringe has shown a little bit too. McKenzie, Shaw, Lemmens, Leslie, Day, Boston and Sexton all have attributes to work with as they develop. Then they have an assortment of really solid types, like Stanley, Day, Hallahan, Rischitelli, etc. Not to mention that they nailed the 2014 draft in my mind - I have every faith in Peter Wright being a long-term, exceptional player for them and Touk Miller and Jarrod Garlett both already look very capable at AFL level.
It's also easy to forget how young they are given the hype around them - they still have the 17th-youngest main list average age in the competition. Now, casting your biases aside, it is extremely, extremely rare for such a young list to make the finals. They're supremely talented but experience gives you what talent can't - they're lacking that.
They're not performing to expectations and this needs to be rectified - particularly their effort levels. But it's too easy to start criticising their recruiting and talent levels while they're having a down period.