ChairmanZia
Club Legend
- Mar 11, 2024
- 2,045
- 1,415
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
The quality of their list has been declining over the years, they did go all-out for a period recruiting high value players like Cameron but I think even they acknowledge that all good things come to an end and have been recently looking to hit the draft and look at longer-term options.
I think they benefited the most from expansion, they were a strong club in their prime and the dilution of the elite talent crippled the vast majority of clubs who were rebuilding at the time, the two that had got through unscathed were Richmond and Melbourne. There weren't many good sides to challenge, Geelong and Hawthorn were racing to see who could hold on the longest and it opened the door for teams that had a gimmick that was good enough to beat ordinary sides and they generally made up the numbers.
It was fairly easy for teams like Swans, West Coast, Port and later Brisbane and GWS to make finals, you just had to win a majority of your home games where you had a significant advantage then beat up on rebuilding sides on the road... and now you were a contender. But, it is a lot harder for these sides to get enough wins get home finals and the majority of these teams bombed out.
Talent dilution is still a problem, too much of the best talent has been taken away from the sides that need it the most, Eagles were the first team in quite a few years to actually have access to the best young talent, the current system has slowed down how long it takes for teams to rebuild once you hit a critical mass of a sudden loss of talent. Richmond was really dominant for a long time and they aren't in a great spot atm, not just with what has departed but what is still to come. At least the AFL has made inroads to make the top talent to be more accessible to the teams that need it the most.
Geelong has an advantage because it is the Vic Country mecca and a lot of the regional players prefer to live in a regional environment and have easier access to their stadium and play games in the region. Even Collingwood loses players to wanting to go to Geelong, that is less of a boon for suburban Melbourne clubs but there are players who do not want to leave the city or want to go home, there is a lot more competition though, it is different to clubs which are the only option or one of only two.
Hawkins, Tuohy, Dangerfield, Stanley, Blicavs, Rohan and Duncan are 33+. Guthrie, Stewart and Cameron are 31+. Rohan is the only forgettable one of that list, they need to find a lot of talent to replace that existing talent and that is just to tread water and treading water for the last couple of seasons has been borderline top 8. I think they are a well run club that develops well and think they can bounce back quickly, but everyone is having issues with trying to find enough talent to get by that isn't just a gimmick. Clubs like Dogs, Port and to a lesser extent Brisbane play a brand of footy that is hard to win a flag playing, you need that consistent offensive and defensive capability that will stand up in a finals campaign.
That's a very well said piece but i highly doubt the person you responded to read more than the first paragraph.
I say to him that all dynasties falls. Geelong delayed their fall by 10 years through having strong core plus good free agency pick ups plus some decent 3rd party 'gifts' to avoid the cap.
That core is now at the end so all their tricks up the sleeve will be defunct.
The delayed 10 years of fall will result in much longer midtable slumber.
We did 20 years at the middle due to a range of factors, 2020 was the best thing that has ever happened in that we finally had the luxury of clearing the deck and rebuild.
Other idiots call our club basket cases, sure thing, premiership teams will only come from bottom teams...unless of course they can cheat the cap with COLA or 3rd party free real estate gifts.