Where to from here ?

[pauld]

Now that one draft is over and two left where do we go from here ?
In one out of three drafts we have picked up one player in Saddington and seem to have lost Campo for nil return.
Getting one player only in the trade week was very dissapointing for many fans. Although Saddington is quality, he has come back from a knee recon, and seems a bit injury prone. Lets hope he can make it onto the ground for us, we need him down back, although he is not a true defender but a winger in essence.
It is a shame that the reports are we tried hard to get Campo to Essendon, but that they offered little in return, and the players offered did not want to come to Carlton !
Anyway, we MUST now pick up true quality in the next draft, Murphy SHOULD be #1, but we must seriously look at getting more talls in to the side as well.
In the PSD we can hope for Selwood, just DONT get Campo back......
As for re-signing Whitnall, it is a waste of money. H ehas not done enough in past FEW YEARS to warrant that kind of money surely. He is being paid as a gun player, but he is pinch hitting at best forward and back.
He is too slow, cant jump, tackles are so so, cant kick long, marking is dubious when under pressure. He may have a footy brain, but as a player he is not in the GUN PLAYER class. He should be groomed as an assistant coach if he is so footy wise....
Lappin, if he re-signs with us, needs to improve his mentality in '06. Last season he was shown to get very disgruntled at his teammates, and did not seem to be trying too hard either. Just look back at some of the replays if you have Fox Footy TV.
Lappo is often seen hands on hips and out of the contesting area.
All in all, we ALL KNOW that we have to re-build, re-building requiring quality youth and classy current players who are not too old (players like Selwood, Merret, etc).
So far in this much needed chance to re-build we ahve picked up under an injury cloud Saddington, lost Campo, and signed back on Whitnall.
Hopefully de-listings will start soon (Bannister, Morrell, etc) and we can begin to see Carlton 2006 taking shape.
Keeping Houlihan is a risk. His one and only position is roaming the forward flank, hoping he does not crowd out Betts who should be thereabouts to.
Putting Houla anywhere where tackling is vital is fraught with danger.
Hope 2006 is better, so far we are chugging along slowly in getting a team together capable of big improvement, being one player in, one out so far...not counting Clarke, Pleming and Bowyer.