Anyone who remembers this please jump in and correct or add to it
When Terry Wallace first arrived he was very guarded about saying a "rebuild"
adding something like - it takes away the hope of the senior players and they wither don't play well or look to go elsewhere
the crowds drop away because they get sick of seeing team thrashed
and that in turn affects sponrsors ... club bottom line etc and that impacts the ability to recruit high quality players
He was saying things along the lines you have to have a foot in both camps - rebuild with youth and recruit experienced players
Part of that for us was to get Graham from the Hawks , he only played the 1 year and retired , but did feel he was really good for us
While the Hawks look like they are bouncing back , its not uncommon for clubs to crash and crash hard
North - in a real hole , must have geniue junior talent going thru their list , but without good senior players setting standards and driving winning culture
we went there in 80's/90's , 2000's
Carlton took a look while to climb back
Essendon climbing back after the drugs scandal
Gold coast - clubs like us keep pinching their talent
I know Terry was a divisive figure but do think there is a lot of merit in what he was saying back then
and we will need the likes of Taranto , Hopper , Vlastuin, D Rioli , Lynch , maybe Baker and Nank (and maybe Dusty) to be those drivers of standards and culture in 25/26
what happens over the next 12 weeks will define our next decade , and while thats true of every year , its on steriods this year
with the decline of older players , the not coming on of younger players and the pick hand we have and the rumour mill on possible player movement
there will be a lot of movement
I just hope we can hold it together and limp to the seasons end
The VFL make finals and this gives us the ability to assess fringe AFL listed players and promising VFL listed players in a more intense environment than the average VFL game
and our back room guys can work some magic with pick trading and for who ever leaves , get the best compo we can
Go Tiges