Wouldn’t the use of top up players for the entire year be predicated on the AFL basically waiving our salary cap for 2016? I’m assuming we’re still going to pay the suspended players after all and we’d be wanting to bring in top up players of AFL calibre since they’d be playing during the regular season, not just in the hit-and-giggle preseason comp, so we’d need to pay them a proper wage. And what about the players now at other clubs? Do those clubs get to claim a top up player with the associated loosening of their salary caps?
Hmm, maybe we could do a variation on what happened with Brisbane when they first came into the competition - we could claim one player from each of the other clubs on temporary loan for the year? That’d be a neat solution. Of course it would have to be an equivalent loan, not a first year player to replace Jobe or any rubbish like that. Jobe’s loan replacement would have to be a premier midfielder and club leader, for example.
(Could you imagine the howls of anguish if that happened? I mean, it won’t but it’s nice to think about cherry picking the best players from the other clubs.)
I don’t think we should play top up players ahead of younger guys on the list. Use this year to find out exactly where guys like Gleeson, Ashby, Hams, Zerrett, Jerrett, Langford, Laverde, Parish and Francis can offer.
Strong possibility that 14-15 of the guys that suit up in the best 22 this year could form the backbone of our next flag tilt. Hopefully they can come together and then we get Heppell, Hurley and Hooker back next year to compliment the side.
There is no way this year is going to be pleasant but we have to use the time wisely with our youth players rather than get old guys in the hope of not getting slaughtered. Top up players for need/relief positions only.