I’m not going to do the obnoxious move of quoting my own posts in this thread and save the Carlton supporters who tried to retort the embarrassment, but this current situation was predictable.
From the lack of modern thinking on the game plan and year after year of the same issues under Voss (rebound and spread), to the lack of balance in the list, to the craziness of the picks move for Jagga Smith, not contending this year, the midfield issues once/if Cripps is past his peak, down to the detail of the regret over the Kennedy trade. It was all there to be seen if you were looking at it with a cool head.
Now the really interesting and very difficult call is what to do with TDK. Some points to Grundy as a watch out, but I think TDK is closer to Gawn in terms of structural importance than he was to Grundy back when he signed his contract. An 10-11m contract is a tough pill to swalllow for the club if they’re not sure they can contend early, plus when a team is on the back foot the player managers go for the jugular on the negotiations because the trade off for success isn’t there anymore. If TDK is still keen on staying I probably would sign him if the return would ‘only’ be something like 2 x first rounders because he’s that good, but if someone like St Kilda offers even more it becomes a harder call to make. If he goes you may as well see who else would move to help rebuild the list (eg McKay to a team in need of a KPF even if it won’t be his peak value, even down to Cripps if he’s had enough and would go back to WA for his twilight years, all options on the table).
So in answer to the original question, yes, in its current iteration, the list is past its peak, and there isn’t a clear pathway to rebuilding it on the run to extend its window so it might be time for a proper reset.
From the lack of modern thinking on the game plan and year after year of the same issues under Voss (rebound and spread), to the lack of balance in the list, to the craziness of the picks move for Jagga Smith, not contending this year, the midfield issues once/if Cripps is past his peak, down to the detail of the regret over the Kennedy trade. It was all there to be seen if you were looking at it with a cool head.
Now the really interesting and very difficult call is what to do with TDK. Some points to Grundy as a watch out, but I think TDK is closer to Gawn in terms of structural importance than he was to Grundy back when he signed his contract. An 10-11m contract is a tough pill to swalllow for the club if they’re not sure they can contend early, plus when a team is on the back foot the player managers go for the jugular on the negotiations because the trade off for success isn’t there anymore. If TDK is still keen on staying I probably would sign him if the return would ‘only’ be something like 2 x first rounders because he’s that good, but if someone like St Kilda offers even more it becomes a harder call to make. If he goes you may as well see who else would move to help rebuild the list (eg McKay to a team in need of a KPF even if it won’t be his peak value, even down to Cripps if he’s had enough and would go back to WA for his twilight years, all options on the table).
So in answer to the original question, yes, in its current iteration, the list is past its peak, and there isn’t a clear pathway to rebuilding it on the run to extend its window so it might be time for a proper reset.
