Not sure TDK would have even been worth holding at 1m given his performances at the Saints, he's been outshone by Marshall as far as I can tell. As for Curnow, pfft, don't miss him. Silvagni has been very good but we're not looking too bad down back.

Agreed. Getting Houston and (maybe?) keeping Curnow (TDK was taking the money either way) might have given us half a sniff, but then we risked falling off a cliff like Collingwood.

Getting Jagger was the right move long term, you can't afford to go too long between bringing in quality young players. As great as the skipper still is, he isn't getting any younger, and Walsh can't do it all by himself.

I think consistently bringing in youth, rather than getting to the point where a full blown rebuild is required, is more likely to lead to success. The more frequently you make finals, the more chances you give yourself of winning a flag. You can't win if you spend half a decade, or more, rebuilding in the bottom four.

Once you've won a flag (or three, like the tigers), then you can consider running it back, or topping up. But we haven't earnt that right.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

_________________
The Artist Formerly Known As BamBam7

Also some seem to have forgotten that when we drafted Smith we didn't know we'd lose him for the entirety of his first season, imagine if he'd played this way last year, won the rising star, and was playing even better as a second year now?

$1.1M was our starting point for TDK. Doubt we went any more than that. Dodged a bullet. only Gawn Jackson and maybe Grundy are worth that sort of money.

Charlie isnt looking like a Million dollar player. I'm expecting an injury any minute

SOS we offered matched Pies $650 offer. No way his injury prone body is worth the $800 or more spruiked around the place.

We have saved ourselves a warchest. Lets prove it when we next play the Aints. We owe them BIG time.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

yep @#$%&! no to Housetan

still not sure about all the shit we will give up for Cody

I think its all about our depth and with the picks and warchest (if we have such means we could really build depth through the entire list both through kids and
recruits

_________________
This type of slight is alien in the more cultured part of the world - Walsh. Its up there with mad dogs, Englishmen and the midday sun!

Our warchest can get us a bonafide star plus a Hayward Ainsworth and a Florent. Just gotta find them, ditto draft picks.

True re cost of Walker, but I have faith in the many options we have to get him.

Regardless, we have to pick the right players with any picks we have. Assume we end up 10th. We have pick 10, 24, Norths 2nd and GCS 2nd, nezt year's first in a compromised draft Tassie get 1, 3, 5, 7......picks makes our first in the 20's.

Just like Smith and Dean are worth 2 firsts, so is Walker. Or you don't think so. 3 picks will give us a 2nd rounder as change.

Also, if good enough with our eyes and ears in the talent scout space we should be able to find a Dominator from the VFL SAFL WAFL. We should be able to find 3 good 2nd rounders.

Remember SOS got 8 first round picks wrong. Got nearly all his 2nd and 3rd round picks wrong. Only successful rookies he got was Cincotta Cottrell and Boyd.

Walker is a bona fide star in the making. Just have to see what he's doing as an 18-19yo against men....and get use to it, we are taking Walker.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Cincotta & Boyd were both Austin.

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

Double checked. You're correct.
Geez, lets blame it all on Austin then.

I come to the conclusion Sydney Blue heaping all the selection blame end of 2023 on one individual, Austin, is a deflection from an individual he may worship, SOS.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

I've continue to do my own numbers on war chests and the 95% Minimum requirement on Salary cap. Its all guess work but a guestimate gives me a picture to consider.

I'll share my numbers at a later time, likely at the end of the year during Trade time, but we must take note from the Ralph Smith Austin interview the salary space created from the departure of TDK, Curnow, SOS and Docherty was over $3M.

Obviously in 2026, having lost all those players (including Durdin, Fantasia....) we can continue to front end Weitering, Walsh, McKay and Cripps' salaries and / or bank the 5% over and above the 95% minimum requirement.

The part we use for the abovementioned purpose is the balance left from payments allocated for Hayward, Ainsworth, Florent and Reidy 2026 salaries....which is nowhere near $3M.

By front ending and banking the 5%, we are building a huge war chest for 2027, 2028 and 2029, during the compromised Draft year.

Smart Savings plan.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Also Salary Cap increases by $700,000 in 2027.

Gotta spend 95% of that. Wont be on star draftees Dean Smith and Walker at this early stage.

_________________
Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Houston wasn't a saviour, he was a missing piece in the puzzle.
And when we lost Newman at the start of 2025 he would've been the perfect fit for our backline to keep competing, especially when transition was an issue.
As most on here have stated, winning football is good football.
And winning teams attract free agents and keep players for less than market value.

As for Curnow, as much as I hate to say it, he's going alright, second in Coleman race by 1 goal ATM.

And as much as I like Jagga, he's still a bit slow at times, like tonight.
I still think even that year we should've used 2 picks in that draft.
Or as Sydney said, we could've got Houston and Murphy Reid.
Jagga is a good footballer, no doubt and I am glad he is playing for us.
But as we have seen so far this year, Ainsworth, Hayward and Florent are doing a lot more good things for the team and without the price tag.

Freo have kept unearthing young (or H. Young!) talent especially midfielders despite loosing a few like Lochie Neale, Cerra and there's one more i can't recall maybe. Jackson has come out of nowhere as a top 5 AFL talent since moving to Freo. I think their list management is second to only Brisbanes over the last decade plus.

Hindsight is 20:20. Lots of teams passed on Reid, there's no guarantee we would have grabbed him. We could have easily ended up with players far less talented than Jagga or Reid.

Those other three blokes you mentioned also have 10 times more AFL experience than Jagga. Jagga's still a teenager.

It's way too early to be drawing conclusions about whether picking him was the right call.

_________________
The Artist Formerly Known As BamBam7

He's been better the past 2-3 games but otherwise the story of his season is a familiar one: loads up in easy wind against weak opposition (Richmond + 2 x Bulldogs without any KPDa), invisible against strong opposition, applying zero defensive pressure, looking for cheap goals out the back. The Coleman is not a great measure of a forward in the modern game.

David Walls didn't
He could have been there instead of Austin

Sent from my SM-F956B using Tapatalk

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

The curnow trade could be the best mutually beneficial trade since Shannon grant/Wayne schwass

_________________
Congratulations CK95