List management is a constant, rolling game of whack-a-mole.
In addition to standard list management efforts for the entire list, I judge a team's prospects based on their young, elite pillars. You can fill in the gaps later. The challenge is finding enough pillars within a narrow age window.
2 x Brownlow mids (or thereabouts)
1 x Coleman fwd
1 x best tall back in the comp
E.g. Cotchin, Dusty, Jack, Rance.
All 4 were the best in their position on their day. All 4 captained the club (3 in a formal leadership role). All 4 grew up together as one club players for over 10 years. All 4 were externally recognised as "the best" individually in their positions by the middle of their career.
Early picks give you that ability to confirm you've found a pillar, to go from potential to proven, and to then shift your strategy to encircling them with complimentary role players. That's why you want early picks.
Few clubs can find enough young, elite pillars within a similar age range who also have genuine leadership traits and also demonstrate elite competence early in their careers. Melb and Bris ticked those boxes 5 years ago.
It's easy to fill in the gaps around a quality young core - you get over 5 years to try! And try we did. We swung and missed on the Chris Yarran trade one year, but it didn't matter because our pillars were young enough that we had the opportunity to keep trying to fill those gaps. We then got Prestia/Caddy/Nank, found specific roles for rookies, and later added Lynch.
All of those decisions were made after knowing what we were building around. What do we know today?
Gibcus has shown potential to be one of the next pillars, but he's currently unproven. If he dominates next year, then this becomes easier. It means we need to find 2 x mids and 1 coleman quality forward before we shift our attention to filling in the gaps.
Until then, we just need to continue making reasonable, informed decisions on a regular basis over time and keep working at providing the best environment possible.