I truly believe the worst thing a club can do is to not accurately evaluate its list. Get it wrong and you can set yourself up for years of pain at the bottom (see Carlton) or forever lurking in the middle of the pack (see St Kilda - don't let their ladder positioning fool you, they're not a top 4 side).

I've been critical of our list management for a while, despite us making a Grand Final last year. For a long time we've been short on rucks, short on key defenders and short on natural forwards. Understand that it's rare you can ever tick EVERY box, but if you want to compete deep, you need to mitigate your weaknesses and maximise your strengths. Sounds simple, and yet we have neglected our areas of weaknesses for too long.

It hasn't 'cost us' until now. We have never been a highly skilled team under Bevo and we've never had a strong structure. We've relied on a number of other areas, namely;

1. Strong midfield - in the past we have just overwhelmed our opposition.
2. Contributions from 22 - we've had our stars but we've relied on even contributions.
3. Flexibility - talls who can play on smalls, smalls who can play taller, ability to play multiple positions etc.
4. A grinding mentality - questionable whether this is sustainable. Saw it succeed in 2016 and succeed for large parts of 2021, but when our ability to grind dissipates we have little structure to 'save us', which sees us fall in a hole (2017, 2018, arguably 2019/2020, 2022)

In my mind, the following is apparent;

1. Our midfield has dropped away and it's overrated. The end of the H&A season last year ahs become a trend. We recovered in the finals until the GF capitulation and we really haven't recovered since. The names on paper look good, but how effective are they REALLY? Stats aside, Bont's form has been... concerning. Dunkley's effort is good but his limitations are severe (ball use, lack of spread from the contest). Treloar has been disappointing and is a defensive liability. I might cop some flak for this and I love the guy, but Macrae is a bit of a stat padder - his influence on games has been 'meh' this year (maybe the average form of Bont and Treloar has an impact on Jack). Hunter has been well down and is similar to Macrae, there's little 'hurt' factor in his game. Libba looked good stat wise today but he's nowhere near the level he was in tight and his ability to spread is AWFUL. Smith has been pretty good, save for some crap disposal.

One of the biggest issues I have with our midfield group is their inability to spread. We are slow and our desire AND acceleration to defend is plainly terrible.

2. Contributions from the 22 are well down. Who has improved, let alone maintained their form from last year? English is the obvious improver, Dale has maintained his form, Gardner is an improver ... there's not much else to write about. Who is well down on production? Bont, Treloar, Williams, Daniel, Hunter, Duryea, Vandermeer, Keath. Meanwhile some of our fringe types who gave us something, have given nothing (McNeil, R Smith, Sweet, Garcia, Hannan).

3. Flexibility is largely form dependent. It hasn't worked - the ruck situation, Bont as a forward, Daniel, Cordy etc.

4. We aren't grinding. We don't look hungry. We look heavy both mentally and physically. We lost a GF to Melbourne and read about all the on-field and off-field bickering, but we turned up to R1 and were MEEK. Problem is, we simply can't be 'off' in this area and still win because our structure is non-existent. Melbourne can have moments where they're playing poorly but their defensive structure is so good that they can 'get by' until the tide turns.

OK, so where to from here?

** Evaluate the list honestly and act accordingly. We have too many half back flankers and too many mids. We have few natural forwards, next to no rucks and next to no KPDs. Fix it. Call it a mini-rebuild, call it a refresh, whatever. It's clear it needs fixing.

** Understand that we need more balanced talent on the list. How do we get it? Listen to offers for Dunkley, Hunter and Daniel for a start. I'm open to going to the draft if we rate it. Can we get 3 top 15 picks i.e. x1 for Dunkley, x1 for Daniel and then our own.

** Draft/trade in natural forwards. That's a mix of medium forwards (i.e. Dickson/Fritsch types) and small crumbing forwards.

** Draft/trade in x2 key defenders and a lockdown defender (Morris/Boyd type - Duryea is almost done).

** Draft/trade in x2 rucks. Not sure who is out there, could we/would we entertain somebody like Rory Lobb to partner with English? Likely would cost too much, and maybe Darcy is that player. Either way, English needs support because Martin is done and we don't rate Sweet.

** Make calls on McLean (harsh - but we can't keep carrying him), Wallis, Schache, West, Butler, McComb, Khamis.

** Consider a reboot for certain players. The first one I'd be looking at is Williams to the midfield. He looks 'done' as a defender for now, can he play inside mid or wing? Big body, good above his head, big kick. Showed a bit in the midfield around 2018, then followed it up with a poor pre-season which led him to a crossroads before he rejuvenated as a defender. Worth trying again, would give us something different in the midfield which we need. Khamis as a forward/ruck sounds like it's happening at VFL level, can Hannan move back? Could West play as a small defender? Vandermeer as a running half back? Daniel further up the ground?

** Lastly, do we need a change in coaching? I'm inclined to say yes and I think our targets should be Clarko and Buckley if so. The former is a great, the latter will be much better the second time around. I feel like Bevo (and his coaching group) are out of ideas and the same stubbornness which got us a Premiership and a GF birth is also partly why we're in a hole right now. Bevo has been wonderful for our club, but he's been the head coach for 8 years. That's a lengthy period of time, he looks disgruntled and tired. I could be wrong.

Apologies for the length of this post. Above all else, I'm convinced we have issues in both our playing personnel and in our coaching. Do you change one before the other? Do you change both?

What would you change?