Even though Croad is lucky to be named given his last six games were mostly as a forward, I agree that Connolly did not persist with Croad back, particularly as McPharlin had already been successfully used forward in 2003 (away v. Richmond- four second half goals from memory), and this looks and quacks like demonstrably poor judgement. Maybe he was too close to the whole thing to be objective, which would be an indictment. I don't know.
I think the Croad trade had to happen to free salary cap more than anything, (even though I understand we may have just finished paying our balance to the Hawks) but I have often looked back during the course of this year and thought if there had been a way to keep him and everyone else at the time, he certainly would have had a more positive impact on this season and last than Ryley Dunn did.
No doubt in my mind that Croad was media (and anti-Victorian Freo-centric crowd) hung drawn and quartered during 2003, unfairly a lot of the time, as he continually impressed me with his work output when struggling for form. That is always the way to turn it around.
Happy enough at the time with the original trade for pick 10 though. I remember saying at the time that we probably shouldn't trade him, because even if he had another poor year, there would still be takers for his raw power and (yes) potential. Fingers crossed on Dunn. Good size and football brain.