At the start of the season, Hardwick said this was a development year, where he wanted to get games into the kids, have a look at everyone on the list and teach the new gameplan. This year was not going to be judged on WINS!
After 2 wins against Port Adelaide (in the wet) and WC (at the G), all of a sudden, we are going to move away from this?
There are still loads of players Dimma needs to look at in the one's:
Hislop, Thomson, Post, Gourdis (if elevated), Browne, Dea, Grimes, MORTON, Polak, Rance, Roberts, Taylor and Webberley.
A few of these blokes have an axe over their head at the end of the year and we need to see what they can do at the highest level after dimma has worked with them. We need to clear another 7-8 spots for the draft this year. Therefore, in the second half of the season, I can see people like Dusty being rested to allow Thomson to play inside mid. Post being used instead of Griffith. Rance coming in for a mcguane etc..
We need to be smart and only win 4 maximum this year. Such a large difference between winning 4 and winning 5. Using last year's shallow draft as a guide:
Pick 4 would have netted us someone like Morabito/Cunnington, whereas pick 6 gets us a Rohan or Sheppard. However, with the priority pick, using last year as an example, we could have netted Griffiths and Koby Stevens / Ryan Bastinac... not just Griffiths...
More importantly of the 8 spots that will be free on the list 3 of them can be filled with top 30 picks rather than only 2 and in each subsequent round, we get a higher pick, which allows us a better chance to choose who WE want and not miss out on someone...