I think you're going to be very disappointed. I can't see our contracted players leaving. The most likely is Baker and Graham and we'll be lucky to get first rounders for them, maybe with other pick swaps.
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Pick 29: Shai Bolton
- Thread starter puregreen
- Start date
A part time forward? Virtually hasn't played for 2 years. Lynch isn't going anywhere, he would have to want to leave and he apparently doesn't.
this group of players you are so fearful of losing has delivered us to the lofty position of 18th.
in your world we add pick 1 and 21 to this sorry lot.
with tassie coming.
madness.
Nope. That's not at all what i implied.
I'm resigned to the fact that Baker is gone (and will be happy to add his pick/picks to the haul). Martin also. But you add the quality of Bolton and Rioli plus retirement/moving on of other senior players and there is going to be lots of hurt for us moving forward and limited quality to lead and mentor the new kids.
Plus you've completely ignord the rest of our draft hand and the ability to trade our picks to move up the order.
there is no reason to keep Bolton
we won't be challenging while he is in his prime
and your conservative approach isn't enough to revitalize the list
2011 GWS had 11 of the first 14 picks. 2012 they had 5 of the first 14. 2013 they had 3 top 14.
3 years. 10 top 5 draft picks. 19 too 14 picks.
Anything to show for it?
and in that period we got pushed to later picks. we need to be very smart now!!
And this all before Tasmania comes in and compromises the draft.
We can either take our medicine now and a big dose of it. Or just hope that our standard allotment of draft pics will be good enough to bridge the gap and overtake the 17 clubs ahead of us (all of whom will of course have their draft picks from the same pool).
That's the choice. Most likely no-man's land for the next decade, or the chance of getting a generational influx of first round talent in one hit from what is reputedly a very good draft.
Again talk about a cross-roads moment.
Apples and oranges. That started from scratch. Ours would come into an existing framework. Even trading out Rioli, Bolton and Baker (and let's be honest, doubtful we'd be ballsy enough to trade out all three), we'd still have a substantial core of premiership players plus Taranto and Hopper for the next few years.
Plus frankly I can just as easily show you many many more clubs over the past decades that had adopted an incremental steady as you go drafting policy that have had very very little or nothing to show for it.
Personally I'd rather be brave and fail, then to drift along in a AFL system specifically designed to ensure long term mediocrity for post-dynasty clubs like Richmond.
There are good reasons. Firstly he isn't the only road to a good draft hand. Secondly, who says we won't challenge? He's 25. He'll be a gun until he's 35. Experienced classy players are part of the contention equation. If we rebuild well and are on the up in 3 or 4 years, we could be looking to trade for a Shai.
I'll say it again, if we had no picks and no other currency, and he was 28, you'd have a strong case. As it stands, sure you can make the argument to trade him, thats fair enough, but anyone who disagrees is not conservative or small minded or short-sighted or whatever, that is gaslighting BS.
I’m far from Bolton’s biggest fan however it’s highly unlikely we would get a better player by trading him for a draft pick , if Serong was on the table I’d be listening, frustrating player , however pretty hard to fine players who kick goals and find as much footy as he does .
Well said.
No man’s land beckons if the club concludes that 2024 was just “one of those years”.
It’s not just about the straight “magnitude” of value to value in the trade.
It’s about time. List development so you get a flag window like we did 2017-2020.
Tm, that was totally bogus that comp.
There were barely any forwards in the Quarter Finals apart from $hai, IIRC.
Boobsy, Pinjarra and Lurch were all still in the running.
It's true Bolton's goal kicking accuracy isn't great but not really fair comparing the two as Bolton does a truckload more work on the ground as he spends a reasonable amount of midfield time as opposed to a full-time forward. Overall Bolton's season and career stats are free superior to Stengle's.
Do people really think we're going to trade our best mid 20yo players, Bolton, Rioli, Graham, Baker leaving nothing left in a 4 year age group? We're really reaching the realms of fantasy land now. Our focus will be on retiring the older players and using our current picks to acquire higher picks and remove some of the deadwood, not to decimate the quality of our list. Makes no sense and is a fallacy. Club has indicated previously that we're aiming for 2 or 3 first round draft picks.
