I think it was Schimma who traded McGrath, not Pagan. And Pyman had quite a few injuries when he was with us. Same with Groom - he had chronic injuries. As for Brad Sholl, he was traded for Robert Scott, and Scott was very good for us (wouldn't mind having another one of him - a very good tagger).
The problem with the "what could have been" lists is that for them to be in the side, then someone else would have had to step aside. You take someone like Lissenden - he was at the Roos at a time when we had Carey, Longmire, Roberts, Crocker, and Sholl rotating through the forward line - was there really a spot for him in the team? As for Hewitt, I thought Pagan treated him roughly, but since then, he's been delisted by the Crows, so perhaps Pagan's judgement was right?
While I take on board Carlos's point about how harsh Pagan was on the kids, it really isn't that much of a different attitude that Sir Alex Ferguson takes with his young players at Manchester United - skills are one thing, mental toughness is another. Ideally you want both, but if a young player lacks mental steel, then all you can do is to instill it in him - make the kid prove the coach wrong. But that's only one part of the story. From what I can gather, as good as Harris has been, he doesn't follow the coach's instructions to the letter, and Pagan is one coach who doesn't let the players who haven't earned their stripes have any leeway.
It is a hard balancing act - how tough do you have to be, but when do you need to encourage a player? When Pickett first got established in the team, apparently Pagan said to him, "We're going to play you in our first four games - you'll stay in the side no matter what happens". It just surprises me that Pagan was so constantly tough on the kids. The flipside is that you don't want to be too soft on them - these kids are making at least $50k a year, everyone adores them, they don't have to pay for drinks or look too far if they want a girl. It'd be easy to cruise through your footy career, especially if you have some natural talent (hello Croad, Everitt, almost everyone who has played for Richmond in the last 20 years). Even one of the Essendon fans on BigFooty (Wally, I think) said that the Dons players had become a bit too comfy with life. Hopefully Pagan has instilled some mental toughness into Smith, Harris and co....but that in doing that, they'll value their time and fire off some brilliant performances when they're in the seniors. And even better, maybe having been kept on the leash for so long, Carlton will pay the price when our kids belt them in 2003.
