Where do you *realistically* see your club going in the next 5 years?

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Interesting question.

Let's take a look at our list.

In five years' time, the following players will all be over 30, and in most cases, retired (or at the very least, about to retire):

Luke Breust
Jack Gunston
Chad Wingard
Sam Frost
James Sicily
Jarman Impey
Karl Amon
Mabior Chol
Blake Hardwick
Lloyd Meek
Conor Nash

Here's the guys that will be 30 in 2029. Assuming no significant form slumps or career-ending injuries, they're likely to play their best football over the next five years or so, and will be winding down in 2029:

Jack Scrimshaw
Mitchell Lewis
Ned Reeves
Harry Morrison
James Worpel
Changkuoth Jiath
Ethan Phillips
Dylan Moore

What jumps out at me looking at those two lists is that we'll need to find, draft, or develop some additional talls and backmen over the next five years or so.

We'll also need to bring in one or two additional midfielders and a couple of mid-sized forwards.

Here's the players who will be in that key 26 to 28 age bracket.

Assuming they have a relatively good run with form and injuries, and are not traded or delisted (see Stephens, Cooper), they'll be around their peak in 2029. Potentially, with around 100 extra games of experience under their belts:

James Blanck
Cooper Stephens
Finn Maginness
Will Day
Jai Newcombe
Denver Grainger-Barras
Seamus Mitchell
Jack Ginnivan
Connor MacDonald
Sam Butler
Jai Serong
Max Ramsden
Massimo D'Ambrosio
Josh Ward

So that's, on current form, a decent crop of midfielders, small forwards, and wingmen.

Finally, here's the players who will be in that 23 to 25 age bracket, and entering their top form. Again, subject to what I said earlier about injuries and the like, with around 100 extra games of experience:

Cam Mackenzie
Josh Weddle
Henry Hustwaite
Bailey Macdonald
Joshua Bennetts
Clay Tucker
Jasper Scaife
Jack O'Sullivan
Nick Watson
Bodie Ryan
Calsher Dear
Will McCabe

Add to those 30-and-under lists five years' worth of draft picks, and any players 25 or under we trade in or recruit through free agency. Subtract anyone traded out, delisted, or suffering career-ending injuries.

Based on that list profile, I'd expect Hawthorn to be very much in the premiership window around 2029.

But we will need to refresh our back line, and bring in some additional talls over the coming five years.
 
No frigging idea to be honest. I don't think we'll get any worse than 22-23, but unless we replace Gov and indeed Barrass our defence could be a bit like the French in World War II. Realistically I don't see us getting out of the bottom four until 2026 at the earliest, and contending for finals before 2030. But hopefully I'm proven wrong.
 

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Norm Smith to raise from the dead and burn the joint to the ground and put the curse and the club to bed.
 
Well according to my predictions in late 2022 we'll be in a deep hole after completing a fourpeat and copping savage AFL backlash ripping our players cand coaches away to Tasmania.

Still about a .5% chance we make finals this year so that dream is alive. Even if we don't I think a fairly deep dive is coming up in five years.

Mofra said:
Terrified of the post-Bontempelli era
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Don't be sad it's over, be happy it happened. Very likely he'll grab another flag before he goes and no one will begrudge him, the only downside will be Bob Murphy storming the stage again for the cup presentation :mad: .
 
I can confidentally predict the Lions will still be contending for finals.

In five years time we'll could have (without taking into account trades in and out of the club) and obviously drafts yet to be conducted.

32 yrs. Harris Andrews, Josh Dunkley, Tom Doedee, (maybe Darragh Joyce)
31 yrs, Eric Hipwood, Callum Ah Chee, Jarrod Berry, Hugh McCluggage
30 yrs, Brandon Starcevich, Noah Answerth
29 yrs, Zac Bailey, Jack Payne, Cam Rayner, Keidan Coleman
28 yrs, Bruce Reville, Devan Robertson
26 yrs, Henry Smith, Kai Lohmann, Harry Sharp
25 yrs, Darcy Wilmot, Jaspa Fletcher, Will Ashcroft
24 yrs, Logan Morris
23 yrs, Levi Ashcroft, Sam Marshall

And maybe a couple of the following older guys on one year contracts, depending on form. Dayne Zorko is 35 and still playing great football.

Lachie Neale will be 36. Joe Daniher, Oscar McInerney, Lincoln McCarthy and Charlie Cameron will be 35. Darcy Gardiner will be 33.
 
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As much as I love the dockers, I don't see them win a flag in the next 5 years.

I will be surprised if they make a preliminary final between 2025-2029.

If freos last 4 years from 2021-24 under Justin Longmuir is anything to go by.... Freo will be middle road.

So finishing between 5th to 14th from 2025-29
 

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PerthBoy86 said:
No frigging idea to be honest. I don't think we'll get any worse than 22-23, but unless we replace Gov and indeed Barrass our defence could be a bit like the French in World War II. Realistically I don't see us getting out of the bottom four until 2026 at the earliest, and contending for finals before 2030. But hopefully I'm proven wrong.
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Eagles are slowly on the way up.

I always knew once 2021 was done, eagles were gonna spend 5 years outside of the top 8.

Yes eagles spent 6 years in a row from 2015-20 playing finals . They also finished 9th in 2014 and 2021.

So eagles had no top 10 picks from 2014-21.

Saying that.... Eagles already notched up 5 wins.

I don't think it will be a bad thing with the eagles being bottom 6 in 2025 with 5-8 wins
 
Freomaniac said:
Eagles are slowly on the way up.

I always knew once 2021 was done, eagles were gonna spend 5 years outside of the top 8.

Yes eagles spent 6 years in a row from 2015-20 playing finals . They also finished 9th in 2014 and 2021.

So eagles had no top 10 picks from 2014-21.

Saying that.... Eagles already notched up 5 wins.

I don't think it will be a bad thing with the eagles being bottom 6 in 2025 with 5-8 wins
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I said at the start of the year my pass mark for the year was 5 wins, and my best case scenario was about 7-8 wins and around 13th on the ladder. Already achieved the first, so I think it's just a pass mark for mine.

I just hope to see development of youth and some keen trades/acquisition for next season. Anything more than 6 wins would be pretty good.

Freo should be challenging for top 4 and a prelim next season. Could still happen this year but I think next year is their chance.
 
LordLucifer said:
Your club should relocate (not to Darwin though), it would be the smartest thing they could do.
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Yep, 100%.

The club that last year had 60k members and an average home crowd of 33k should kiss goodbye to the majority of their rusted on supporters to go play as a tin pot, Frankenstein team in a micro-market that doesnt want or need and AFL team, playing their home games in a dinky suburban cricket ground that can't physically or legally hold more than 15k people.

How this sound business logic has alluded them is baffling 🤔
 
Freomaniac said:
Depends... Winning some close games will help.

And depending on injuries too, even Irish BlueBagger will agree on this one
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I'm just hoping we can lift and beat your city rivals mate!

Hopefully we'll win our two remaining games and we'll see whether that's enough to play finals footy then.
 
LordLucifer said:
6-weeks ago I would have said something completely different but now, I really have no idea.

No-one in our club has learnt from the past, they just keep repeating the same dumb decisions in relation to recruitment, coaching & team selection.

I have followed Carlton all my life (I was at the 1968 GF) and this is the first time ever I'm questioning my allegiances to the Blues.

They don't seem to care about the supporter base who have been burnt for near on 30-years.

I took out a Giants membership up here when they first came in (I'm a 'foundation member') because I really want to see the code grow dramatically. However, it may not take much more of the utter crap the CFC keep serving up for me to jump ship to the Giants properly as painful as that is to say.

Thing is, speaking to some other Carlton supporting friends, they too have nearly had enough of the mismanagement & lack of professional structure at Princes Park.

It feels like there may be a seismic change within the supporter base at Carlton, this season really hurts (again) and at some stage, you have to say 'enough is enough'.
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This. Except replace Carlton with Essendon and GWS with the Lions.
 
LordLucifer said:
Rinse & repeat ....... change the record, it's broken.

I have heard all this said or seen it written year after year after year after year yet here we are yet again, the laughing stock of the competition.

Our coach has not once come out in the aftermatch presser and said "I've had a gutful of this crap and I'm not going to accept it any more" or something along those lines.

How about showing to the supporters that it means something to him just like it does to them ??

During the 70's & 80's, Carlton built a reputation for being being ruthless in its pursuit of premiership success. Now, we are too nice and too vanilla preferring to just wait for something to happen (which never does) instead of actually making it happen.
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How are Carlton travelling off field?
The appointment of Brian Cook is obviously a positive but do the non official board member powerbrokers (Matheson, Pratt et al) still wield any influence?
 

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Where do you *realistically* see your club going in the next 5 years?

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