The Blair "Which?" Project | PUNT ROAD END | Richmond Tigers Forum
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The Blair "Which?" Project

toothless

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Aug 16, 2009
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There would have been a lot more to that deal though. It wouldn't have been Pick 1 for Pick 8. It probably included at least a future 1st and probably something else, as if it was just Pick 8 and a future 1st then I don't see why Adelaide would have turned it down. Harley Reid or Curtin and a pick around 10.
Twomey never mentioned anything other than a straight up swap, he may have been remiss by including those details but the impression was given of that (a straight swap).
 

Tygrys

Tiger Superstar
Apr 25, 2004
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That is correct...
The relevance is:
The importance of knowing where your at in order to pull the correct lever...
We thought we were in a position to continue to contend....
Whereas the reality was we were starting a rebuild...
If we had clarity on our position would we have pulled the same lever?
Definitely a question for a Blair thread.
The other point is:
Recognising the position if the club your dealing with:
They had 2 players ready to slot into Tim's and Jacobs positions...
Green and Callaghan...
That being the case, could we have been less generous with our draft hand...
1 1st rounder for Tim...
1 1st rounder for Jacob or a 2nd rounder.
Would have bought in the 2 players in question and left us with a stronger draft hand.
Let's learn from past decisions, in order to make better ones going forward.
It can be argued that both Hopper and Taranto if they were still at GWS would both be depth players . You don't sell the farm for someone else's mature age depth players. What's more galling of course is that they are now contending plus have the benefit of all that quality youth courtesy of our draft picks, whilst we are not contending and are in fact rebuilding.

If you can't find learnings from this episode you're not trying very hard (although having watched Hawthorn go down a similar path post dynasty I had hoped we could have learnt from their mistakes rather than our own).

Anyhow the decisions made in the trade period of 2022 will have ramifications for many years to come. Expect it to be bought up repeatedly in the future and rightly so. Especially if it looks like we are toying with the idea of doing something similar again.
 
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Tortured Tiger

Junior Development - The Tigers key to success !!
Jan 24, 2005
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It can be argued that both Hopper and Taranto if they were still at GWS would both be depth players . You don't sell the farm for someone else's mature age depth players. What's more galling of course is that they are now contending plus have the benefit of all that quality youth courtesy of our draft picks, whilst we are not contending and are in fact rebuilding.

If you can't find learnings from this episode you're not trying very hard (although having watched Hawthorn go down a similar path post dynasty I had hoped we could have learnt from their mistakes rather than our own).

Anyhow the decisions made in the trade period of 2022 will have ramifications for many years to come. Expect it to be bought up repeatedly in the future and rightly so. Especially if it looks like we are toying with the idea of doing something similar again.
If you look back at the time 90 percent of posters on PRE were happy with this approach. We have no idea who we would have picked if we had of gone down the draft path and if they were successful or still languishing in the VFL. So we can point the finger all we like but it won’t change anything. I would be very surprised if the club doesn’t focus on the draft for the next couple of years. We need to get as many low picks as we can and hope the next Cotch, Dusty, Riewoldt is amongst them.
 
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Tygrys

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If you look back at the time 90 percent of posters on PRE were happy with this approach. We have no idea who we would have picked if we had of gone down the draft path and if they were successful or still languishing in the VFL. So we can point the finger all we like but it won’t change anything. I would be very surprised if the club doesn’t focus on the draft for the next couple of years. We need to get as many low picks as we can and hope the next Cotch, Dusty, Riewoldt is amongst them.
For the record I was one of at least 10 percent that weren't happy. Back then I thought we misjudged where our list was, that selling the farm for these two players, especially considering the age and injury history of Hopper, was problematic to say the least. But yes pointing fingers won't change anything, but we are stuck with the consequences irrespective and it's fair enough to discuss them.

And as for where those players selected would have been if we had gone down the draft path, who knows? But at least we'd be two further years into the rebuild, as opposed to starting it this year in earnest with Tasmania lurking just over the horizon. There are no guarantees in football, but I'd rather be in that place than where we are now....
 
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Tortured Tiger

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For the record I was one of at least 10 percent that weren't happy. Back then I thought we misjudged where our list was, that selling the farm for these two players, especially considering the age and injury history of Hopper, was problematic to say the least. But yes pointing fingers won't change anything, but we are stuck with the consequences irrespective and it's fair enough to discuss them.

And as for where those players selected would have been if we had gone down the draft path, who knows? But at least we'd be two further years into the rebuild, as opposed to starting it this year in earnest with Tasmania lurking just over the horizon. There are no guarantees in football, but I'd rather be in that place than where we are now....
You are right we can certainly discuss what happened over and over again but the bottom line remains, it is what it is and we move forward with what we have got, the rest is just useless speculation at the end of the day.
 
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Tigerdangerous

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Aug 30, 2011
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You are right we can certainly discuss what happened over and over again but the bottom line remains, it is what it is and we move forward with what we have got, the rest is just useless speculation at the end of the day.
Learning from mistakes made requires honest discussion which is not useless speculation.

I hope the club is having the same discussions as the supporters are about failing to manage the list better with recent recruiting.
 
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Tortured Tiger

Junior Development - The Tigers key to success !!
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Learning from mistakes made requires honest discussion which is not useless speculation.

I hope the club is having the same discussions as the supporters are about failing to manage the list better with recent recruiting.
The useless speculation I am talking about is who we would have picked. None of us know that so we have no idea if that would have been the right way to go. It is still to early to make a decisive call, Taranto did win the best and fairest, hardly a disaster. I would rather focus on what is coming up.
 

Tigerdangerous

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The useless speculation I am talking about is who we would have picked. None of us know that so we have no idea if that would have been the right way to go. It is still to early to make a decisive call, Taranto did win the best and fairest, hardly a disaster. I would rather focus on what is coming up.
Ignoring the past is not the best way to move forward. Hardwick and those that agreed with his recruiting requirements post 2020 were not thinking that well about the future. Hardwick jumped ship. Tiger supporters don’t.

The club has been down this road before. The club has brought in players and gave up a lot for short term gain before without the gain.

I just hope the next flag is not 37 years away. If so I won’t be around to see it. 😉
 
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