Absolutely, it is all about next year. It starts now and we need to find the missing pieces to fit in around the likes of Nank/Soldo, Balta, Presia, Lambert, etc. when they return from injury. No point looking in the rear-view mirror, it is all about next year.
That said I want to use all of our draft picks. The top picks must be best available. And retire our premiership stars for whom the game has gone past.
We still have a year or two left of key players in the 28-32 year old bracket to inject youth, skills and talent to complement these players.
Exactly.
Realistically, going forward from our Dynasty, we lose Cotchin, Houli, Astbury in the short term.
Jack's next, but still has lots to offer. Edwards too.
That's still a hell of a lot of our premiership nucleus retained. Most of which won't decline in the next couple of years. Lambert, Prestia, Nank, Grimes, Vlossy, Lynch, Shorty, Broad, Pickett, Kmac. Not to mention one Dustin Martin.
Add in improvements/maturity in Balta, Stack, Bolton, Graham, Baker, Rioli, Soldo and Coleman-Jones.
If we wanna push, we'll need to move a couple on, and get a couple in. A key back, a key forward, inside midfield depth, a dangerous small forward would all help. With kicking prioritised.
Aarts and Castagna need to be moved on. We should start that ASAP, to experiment with a forward line that's actually dangerous when we're in possession.
And if we get one or two players out of Parker, Mansell, Samson Ryan, Miller, RCD, Ross, Dow, then that's all we need.
This is not 37 years in the wilderness time.
I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the year without the pressure, and hoping we get experimental.
