Going by draft guru list age is 24.00 years ranked 15th in 2025
Would say our list is not much older then Richmond,North,West Coast,Hawks to say we are not improving the list and just keep playig old guys is just wrong imo
I agree that Goldstein is totally superfluous (and I was against getting him to begin with), and think Bryan/Draper/Vigo/Wright is fine.
However, Gerryn isn’t relevant to the ruck conversation. He’s very unlikely to be an AFL ruck. His odds are probably better to be an AFL midfielder! However, he most likely will be a KP player.
IF they are targetting 2030 (I would have thought they’dbe targetting sooner personally), and do so successfully, of course there would be finals victories beforehand.
I meant finals success in by the end of his current contract. Which is 2026. I think that is unrealistic, so I would give him an extension now personally if they think he is the right man for the rebuilding process. I’d hope he invests this year in playing talented AFL ready youth over the journeyman and giving games to the Roberts and El Hawli’s so we don’t get a repeat of the Mass Exodus.
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IMO 2030 would be the target for developing the finals culture that has you reliably competing deep into September.
Everyone accepts that with a bit of luck that timeline can be brought forward very quickly if things click, like the Hawks did last year, or with Collingwood being gifted some future brownlows via FS
But the slow methodical list build with a target of 2030, would imo, be the conservative build assuming we don’t have any luck. If that makes sense.
I wouldn’t get too fixated on the year.
It’s basically a 5 year plan. Which every team would have. Heck even good companies and businesses would be doing this.
There’s also be particular milestones along the way. Even Vozzo in the interview with Watson said we’re still aiming for finals (cannot recall if he mentioned winning one).
They’ll track their progress against it, but at some point, there is a chance that they reach a position where that 5 year plan is no longer achievable so they adjust their plan from there or completely scrap it and pivot.
A high majority of long term plans fail. That’s the reality of being in a competitive competition where a very small percentage of teams achieve ultimate success.
Sometimes, the plan can be highly aspirational and totally unrealistic (like Brendan Gale’s one with Richmond ten years ago). The aim for these would be to set a high bar and even if it isn’t isn’t reached, we are pretty damn good and give themselves a chance. Geelong’s and Sydney’s plans would be similar over the last 20 years, but with varying results.
I can’t think of any team that wouldn’t be aiming for something major in 5 years time. That’s how it takes to draft players, develop a full group and get them to start performing. The major X factor is whether you have the people in place to get there. We definitely didn’t have it 5 years ago. We may not have it now, but we’re in a better position than 5 years ago. Highly likely there’ll still need to be more change along the way. It’s not as simple as ‘just get this person in’ and then sit back on a beach with a drink and watch the premierships come in.