On the back of the thread on massive losses I have been thinking about this for awhile. Each club has around 45 players on their list. Suddenly by bringing in GC, that's another 45 AFL standard players that need to be found. On top of this we also have GWS, so that's another 45 players.

Has the AFL erred by having the extra clubs, or are there now more opportunities out there for younger players who would have missed out in the past?

Personally, I think there currently aren't enough players out there at AFL standard, and this has lead to massive losses as well as a drop in the standard of play for many clubs. I think this will eventually be rectified in about 5 years time when young players become more experienced and are trained at a higher standard than if they weren't playing AFL.