- Aug 18, 2018
- 30,218
- 50,686
- AFL Club
- Geelong
Even if you say those guys we lose are depth that's still a hell of a lot of depth to lose.Is your belief that we'll slide to the bottom half of the ladder based mainly on us receiving a significantly more difficult fixture next year, or on a decline you foresee in the output of older guys like Danger? Not necessarily disagreeing with your contention btw, just curious to know your reasoning. If it's the latter reason I think we're actually doing an alright job managing the transition of the senior guys out of the side. The likes of Tuohy, Duncan, Bews, and Blicavs may still be in the side but they're all way less important to us than they used to be, so I feel we can cover their departure or decline.
Likely Round 1 team next year if Smith arrives (age as of Round 1 2025 in brackets):
B: Kolodjashnij (29) J.Henry (26) Zuthrie (26)
HB: Humphries (22) Blicavs (33) Stewart (31)
C: Dempsey (22) Holmes (22) Miers (25)
HF: Close (26) Cameron (31) Mannagh (27)
F: Stengle (26) Neale (22) O.Henry (22)
R: SDK (24) Dangerfield (34) Smith (24)
Int: Atkins (29) Bowes (27) Bruhn (22) Mullin (25)
Sub: Duncan (33)
This team is similar to the one that finished 3rd this year, with only Tuohy, Stanley and Bews out of the side. Note that there's only 5 players over the age of 30.
The age profile and quality of this teams looks okay to me. Nothing here screams "definite fall down the ladder" imo.
Back of the napkin mid season calcs I had us losing more combined games experience than North did with their 2016 cull.