So, he got it right then?

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Nope
He could have got Houston with 1st round pick used the 2nd 1st round pick on Murphy Reid and that would have kept JSOS at the club with his mate.
He also gave Martin Durdin and Kennedy away for next to nothing

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Durdin and Kennedy were traded for picks that became Byrne and HOF, that's far from nothing

Sooooo… he got it right then?

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Was that your suggestion before the draft?

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

To get Houston - And I have been banging on for years that you can't build through draft

We are currently in a phase where we are trading 2x 1st round picks to get one . We have brought in a plethora of high end draft picks over the years - You would think the penny would dropped by now

Gold coast currently have 12 top 10 draft picks with 5 taken in the top 2 - How is it working out for them

Then you look at Hawks who have sky rocket up the ladder - Barass - Battle Chol -Impey Ginivan- Newcombe - D Ambrosia -Meek-Scrimshaw and brought back oldman Gunston - the only top end draft picks they have had are Ward - Day and Watson - They haven't won anything yet but it wont be long as they will be there abouts for years to come

We made Prelim in 2023 - had a shocking run of injuries in 2024 and Austin blew the place up -where we went into 2025 with zero depth and a heap of players 21 or younger and a lot of them not much chop

What happened this year with bringing in Haywood Ainsworth and Florent should have happened a year earlier with similar types of players

Carlton needed a run of 6 to 8 years of making finals and playing finals not chucking the baby out with the bath water because we didnt win our first prelim in 25 years

Austin was sacked for a reason

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Sure but where did you say we should take Murphy Reid with a second rounder?

Because if you did that’s a great plan.

If not then it’s just more after the draft fluff.

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

BTW Syd, I’m not defending the two picks for one player thing and I hope this year is the last time we do it even though all three of those players look like generational talent, but I think we can go hard in the draft AND trade for experienced players.

And I think we did that last year.

Our biggest problem as a club has been overvaluing our own and not trading them out when they’re still worth something.

I hope following the Curnow deal we’ve learnt how valuable that strategy is. You’d do that deal every day of the week.

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“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king. The palace turns into a circus.”
Turkish Proverb

Actually what has been shown from the interview is that the List decisions, strategy and direction were not made solely by one man. Coach and Footy Director had a say.

The lesson from SOS' severe shedding of the playing group is that complete List rebuilds are rarely successful. You point out only one success with that strategy; Hawks. SOS' idea was to repeat his GWS strategy and that required a plethora of First round picks. Unfortunately, 8 of his Carlton first round picks were fails. Eight (who could be playing today). His misses with GWS First round picks was much worse. That says more about the man (working as a silo) than the strategy imo. ie Coach, Footy director, Football Manager, recruitment staff had no say.

We failed from a long way back, and obviously when looking at the 2023 team we overrated the list. Houston wouldnt have got us further than we did in 2024. An injury to Curnow before the GWS game derailed our season. One player. That's as brittle as it can get imo.

We move forward, this time, we have a solid Group of players, where we have lost 3 (Curnow, TDK and SOS) and added 3 (Hayward, Ainsworth, Florent), and high end kids Jagga, Dean and Walker, with two men with full support of the Board to make the right decisions with our war chest, and 20 kids under the age of 23yo. Feels different from the past.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

As you know, I accept the above, and felt the same at the time (Bracketed below reflects Rnd selection used on player).

After 2023 we moved on some failed selections Plowman (1), Dow, (1), O'Brien (1), Philp (1) Fisher (2) Ed (R) but failed to replenish players reflecting the calibre/experience/age of the loss with Hollands (1), Moir (2), Wilson (2), Fantasia, Carroll (R), Lord (R). That's where we either failed to identify talent to replace losses

After 2024 we moved on injury prone Marchbank (1), Cuningham (1), Martin (1), and Carroll (4), Durdin (R) Mirkov (R) and traded Kennedy(1) and Owies (R) but failed to replenish players reflecting the calibre/experience/age of the loss of these and previous year's losses or made the wrong decision depending on your preferred strategy. I was with you back then SB: to replace good players with good players or better.

And, SB, your point remained valid at the end of 2024 but we went for more youth in Smith, O'Farrell, Campo, Campo, Charleson Carroll. Houston imo, wasn't the answer for the loss the previous 2 years. IMO, we made our bed end of 2023. Group decision.

Sacking Austin IMHO was a case of looking for a scapegoat, given it was a group decision. But I also add I have NFI of the calibre, breadth and depth of the recruiting team Austin had at his disposal in Vic and Interstate to determine if he the best information/ options or not.

I'm past all that now. Its 2026. Austin and Voss are goneski. We have Walker to add to the kids, with a few 2nds and 2027 picks in tact to Trade and use a War chest for FA or two, to replenish and add to this strong group.

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

It’s the price of every halfway decent academy pick.

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"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter" - Winston Churchill.

Agree, Houston was just another messiah, hopefully we've gone beyond the Messiah's and can now focus on building a solid list.

Once we've blown all our first round picks on Walker that is.

You can't avoid giving 2 picks for FS or Academies being selected top 5 -10. That's the system, unless of course it gets changed again.

when I think about how much fun it is watching our list play at the moment, other than a couple of obvious holes, i can't find a reason to cry over spilt milk.

Haynes, lord, O'Farrell, smith, Byrne, dean, ison, moir, wilson over the last 3 years are players I am backing.....other than Moir (who is a question) that bunch will all be 100 game players

Yeah, nah.
I think you missed the point, like we missed our window.

Could've still had all those players except smith if we got Houston.
And if Houston was able to keep us competitive and in the top 4 we would've also kept a key ruck and a key forward (now players we have to find) as well as attracting potential out of contract UFA players like the ones that walk to clubs like Geelong, Hawks and Lions keeping them relevant year in year out.

Then there is also the reputation of a club that walks away from a deal when a player has chosen them, not a good look.

Hopefully with CD and GW in charge we don't do that again and seize the moment.
Although the Buku deal was a bit off, but maybe we told him we will get him this year.

It’s the price you have to pay now - not what Brisbane had to pay for theirs - or how much Collingwood had to pay for their father/sons - it’s the Australian way - pull the ladder up after you’ve stuck your snout in the trough - not looking at you Albanese.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Not to mention Hawkins and Gaz Ablett at the Cats . Heaven help us if Hodge jnr is any good . Imagine the uproar from Jeff .

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All my dangerous friends

Don't forget Scarlett. Hasn't stopped C.Scott advocating for end of father sons in first round. I mean cats have already built their dynasty on the back of it

Give me smith any day over the ‘saviour’ Houston. And the argument that we would still have a key forward and ruck in Curnow and TDK…..I’m not convinced at all. We are way better off list wise and culturally post the curnow deal. As for TDK? How could anyone justify holding him at those $….????

We are making the right moves.

With respect to reputation….well, thats complete speculation