When will we turn it around?

[stallon]

Well question is, what is the makeup of this so called finals side we would have? How many do we already have? For me its 3 years away with a bare cupboard. Those id consider best 22 for a future top 8 Eagles team is

FB: Hough, H.Edwards, Ginbey
HB: McCarthy, ???, Starcevich
C: ??? Reid Allan
HF: Hewett, Waterman, Davis
FF: ??? Shanahan ????
R: ??? ??? ???
I/C: Maric, A.Reid, Baker, ???

Feels like thats about it. Need another 3 more drafts for sure + a Chad Warner type free agent win

Duursma can probably be added to an onball role for now imo
If we get CDT than name him ruck(him and Archer as a duo), if we take a mid(Sharp/Robey) then put them onball instead.
We should be able to name at least 1 small forward from our current crop + future NGAs.
If we assume Kehn will be a decent player off half back in next years draft, we can move McCarthy into the midfield/wing.

Leaves a CHB, 1 small forward, and 1 (mid or ruck)

We have our 3rd pick this year, plus Banfield and a heap of other NGAs.
Between those plus our current depth(Gross/Hall) we should be able to find a mid(who could be our 5th mid in the side realistically, a role player would suffice).
If we skip CDT then we can draft a ruck or a ruck/fwd with later picks or just rely on JWilliams/BWilliams for now to help Archer, theyre not that incompetent.

If we get Warner as a FA, that shores up our midfield completely.

Just need a CHB, maybe a ruckman and potentially a small forward depending how our NGAs go.
We still have our first picks in 2026 and 2027, plus any other trades to fill those roles.

 

[RookiePick]

, older players like Nicoski reinventing themselves in new positions after being injury-wrecked

Yeo to the forward pocket?

 

[squashface]

Yeo to the forward pocket?

Darling to midfield

 

[MaxHunt]

The oracles at fox footy have the answers.

 

[ioppolo]

The oracles at fox footy have the answers.

At least they have Collingwood's window closed.
B2B premiers still open till 2029, I'm sure they'll add more cups by then.

 

[DorothyG]

What happens to Collingwood after next year? Fired into the sun?

12-15 years for us since '18 is pretty on brand timeline.

 

[Selurs]

Yeah, they also have Carlton, Essendon, Melbourne AND Port all entering 3-season "windows" from 2028. There's probably a good chance that a 38 year old Max Gawn

11

Max Gawn

Age

33

Ht

209cm

Wt

110kg

Pos.

Ruck

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.1

4star

K

7.4

3star

HB

6.7

4star

CL

2.8

4star

HO

35.3

5star

D

18.5

4star

K

11.5

4star

HB

7.0

4star

CL

3.5

4star

HO

29.2

5star

D

8.4

3star

K

3.6

2star

HB

4.8

4star

CL

1.0

3star

HO

15.6

5star

will still be better than any ruck we have by that point, but unless Jai Culley suddenly morphs into a Judd/Bont combo, I don't see them anywhere other than the bottom 4, the other three teams are staring down the barrel of similarly grim futures...