Hardwick missed top four by half a game in his fourth year.
Will be interesting to see what North looks like next year. Richmond's average age over 2010-11 was 23.17 and expansion teams aside, you need to go back to North c. 1988-91 to find another team as young over consecutive years, prior to their run of seven consecutive prelims/two flags 1994-2000.
North was the 9th-oldest team in 2020 @ 25.77, just behind Richmond (25.83), so there will need to be some significant "downbuilding" before they can establish a platform for sustained improvement.
Of Richmond's 16 oldest players in 2010, 11 had ~20 games or fewer remaining at Richmond; only Tuck (28), Newman (27), King (26), Foley (24) and Jackson (23) kicked on to any extent.
Looking at North's oldest 16:
Player | Age Today | 2020 Gms |
Goldstein, Todd | 32.4 | 17 |
Tarrant, Robbie | 31.6 | 16 |
Hall, Aaron | 30.0 | 15 |
Ziebell, Jack | 29.7 | 8 |
Cunnington, Ben | 29.4 | 3 |
Campbell, Tom | 29.1 | 1 |
Atley, Shaun | 28.2 | 17 |
Polec, Jared | 28.1 | 13 |
Walker, Josh | 28.0 | 17 |
Tyson, Dom | 27.5 | - |
Garner, Taylor | 26.9 | 2 |
Anderson, Jed | 26.8 | 15 |
Corr, Aidan | 26.5 | (15) |
McDonald, Luke | 25.8 | 17 |
Dumont, Trent | 25.4 | 17 |
Turner, Kayne | 24.9 | - |
Hall, Campbell, Tyson, Garner would not be seen as long-term players; probably Walker & Turner also. Polec is only there because they couldn't offload his oversized salary (Jordie McMahon equivalent). Goldstein and Tarrant are entering their twilight. Ziebell and Cunnington are important but injury-prone. Atley, Anderson, McDonald and Dumont are AFL-standard triers and Corr is a solid player coming off a PB year at GWS.
Simpkin, Davies-Uniacke, Thomas, Scott and perhaps Larkey of their younger group look clearly above average. Then there is Stephenson with obvious ability (Rising Star) but whose career is at the crossroads.
It's not all doom and gloom if you're looking at it from a glass-half-full perspective. Seems reasonable to think North will not sink as low as early-2010 Richmond, but their climb out might be slower due to natural attrition at the top of the list. It might almost be better for them if some of the older players fall off the perch and the kids are exposed early - take the pain and crash or crash through, as Hardwick did.