Good article. Makes a lot of sense. Only so much you can spend now without farking up the list if/when the side gets better and you have to pay what some of the youngsters are going to be demanding or others are going to be offering. If we were a very mature list then yeah you go all in for a flag and then rebuild. But we are a young side with plenty of upside, with some getting older guns, so it’s a balancing act to get it right for now and the future. We are going to give it a massive crack in the next year or two for a flag (oh yeah and a finals win…) but also keep the core together for the future.
and I like the bit about the extra training - it was clear from the Crichton the players are genuinely pi$sed off with the year and want to make amends. I hear even Langford’s dad is doing extra sessions (poor Kyle).
He took a significant cut so they could balance their books. Not sure if he would request a renegotiation of contract if he was going to another club though. Clearly worth more than 500K per season, especially now that Polec is getting 900K
I still reckon we need a bigger body in that 187-190cm mold in the midfield. Setterfield would have been perfect but surely there’s someone else.
Also afl.com.au is reporting we have shown interest in Ben Long. (Ben>Jake)
Not sure Ben Long helps purely based on size alone. Isn’t a big contested ball winner or demonstrated he has the tank to run all day through the middle.
Would be very sweet of we managed to wrangle a couple of second rounders, offered them for either Setterfield if Carlton fail to deal OR Jack Martin and see what GWS/GC do.
I think by adding Shiel for strength and then backing in Kyle Langford and, after further development, Jayden Laverde & Josh Begley (both with bigger frames) we might have it covered. But those guys need to go to another level. Either way exciting times!
The longer we hold off in the trade of Shiel, there will still be small bites from other clubs. Our best interest is to get it done quicker, and we can sit back and see whether someone else is available or we can better our draft position.
I would sleep easy if they locked it away today, but last year Dodoro pulled some voodoo ■■■■ with Jake Stringer by leaving it late and nailed the trifecta. I don’t think he’d ever let Shiel slip through his fingers.
