You won two games this season. You will only get younger next season. Nine players is nothing particularly when a couple are injury prone. Look at North in 2020 they still had the likes of Higgins, Goldy, Ziebell, Cunnigham, Mcdonald, Polec, Pittard, Atley, Tarrant, Hall, Brown. You guys look to be doing the same thing at this stage.Except we are only potentially trading 3 or 4 players out of about 12 to 14 who are over 25 who will be on the list next year.
The ones over 25 who are left will be
Vlastuin
Nank
Balta
Taranto
Short
Broad
Prestia
Lynch
McIntosh
And we have another cohort between 22 and 24 who have played 40 to 70 games.
Hardly scorched earth compared to North who basically traded or force retired (as you say) all its good and seasoned players.
I'm not saying we won't be near on or the bottom for the next 2 or even 3 years. Maybe it might be even more. But there are enough bigger bodies, experience and leaders in the meantime to avoid the seemingly impending generational wipeout that North have forced on themselves over the past 5 or 6 seasons.
We also haven't ruled out poaching free agents over the next few years, something North have refused to do to date.