Half Way Through The Trade Period - Where Are We Headed?

[bulldogtragic]

It's a bit hard to follow, but they essentially still have Tim O'Brien on their list from the pick we swapped as well. Which was 27.

Oh yeah. Then it's 72 games combined in that trade, with the number still going. Let's never discuss this again.

[Dancin' Douggy]

Oh yeah. Then it's 72 games combined in that trade, with the number still going. Let's never discuss this again.

It reeks

[bulldogtragic]

Any surprises in the next 35 minutes?

[bornadog]

Any surprises in the next 35 minutes?

Koby still in limbo?

[Bulldog Revolution]

Koby still in limbo?

Maybe they havent offered 50 and so we're not committed for less

[bulldogtragic]

JOM, Lids, Marchbank, Richards, Pickett all not signed up yet.

We have trade currency and salary cap.

[G-Mo77]

Koby still in limbo?

I heard this morning he's likely to be a DFA for the Saints.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I heard this morning he's likely to be a DFA for the Saints.

That would be disappointing. He's near best 22 for us and to lose him for nothing would be a fair loss

[G-Mo77]

That would be disappointing. He's near best 22 for us and to lose him for nothing would be a fair loss

We may as well have done the same with Hrovat but looking through the other token trades for irrelevant picks we're not alone. Would love to get at least 50 for him. 15 minutes to go.....

[LostDoggy]

Koby still in limbo?

Did The 'Aints pick him up?

[1eyedog]

Did The 'Aints pick him up?

Yep late pick.

[LostDoggy]

I don't get the "we won the flag and everything must be right" approach. To me complacency shouldn't be accepted.
We lose some of our depth with both Hrovat and Stevens likely to depart and of course a question mark on how long it will take Mitch Wallis to get back into good form next season. We also lose a lot of depth with Hamling's departure. Cloke covers Redpath and probably only improves things slightly.

A late reply but I'm just writing to agree with this. I've seen a few posts around saying things like it wouldn't matter if we lost every game next season we can still celebrate winning this year (I'm paraphrasing but you get the gist).

I don't want it to be another 60 years before we see another grand final. I'm sure when we were the best team in 1954 with some powerhouse players no one predicted that it would take us another 7 years to make another Grand Final, let alone another 62 years (!) to win a flag. It can fall apart very quickly. Leicester City are potentially fighting relegation this year, a season after they won the EPL.

Everything looks rosy now, but a club like the Dogs is only ever as strong as its on-field performance.. memberships and momentum will fall off very quickly if we don't make the finals next season -- even a club like Hawthorn that's won so much has had doom and gloom articles written about them since the finals, and in a tiny industry with lazy journos where perception very quickly becomes reality, we cannot afford to be seen as one-season wonders and written off again (which will happen very quickly if we're not winning consistently), which will very quickly lead to 'crisis' articles. Our increased profile is a double-edged sword, and as sure as the sun rises, the media builds things up only to tear them down.

At least Gordon and Beveridge made the right noises after the GF about building a dynasty and becoming respected, but there are a few signs (Libba's offseason most tellingly) that point to a possible premiership hangover next year. The football department have a real job ahead of them, without any early draft picks, to not let any blips turn into downward trends. Smart value pick-ups like Hawthorn did with Dew, Burgoyne, Lake et al will be crucial (I'm do think the Cloke trade was good business, and will be good to have Crameri and Murph back, but like you, I am very worried about our key defender depth.. Morris isn't going to be around forever). I was one of the ones saying prior to the finals that our 7th place this year wasn't a real 7th place (the top 7 were so close all year), but we did still finish 7th, so it's not like we were a powerhouse team blowing everyone away (although our team defence was clearly best-in-class all year, which gave me a lot of hope going into the finals). GWS will improve again, and the top 4 from this year aren't going anywhere.

Finals for the next five years at least are a must, top 4 finishes if possible. Another 2 premierships in the next ten years would be a huge achievement, and would set us up for the future nicely. If we don't win another one in the next ten years, we'll go back to being a smallish club (relatively speaking), just like North (although we do have demographics on our side). Anyway, just my thoughts.