It's been a long time since we have had to watch former tiger players do well at other clubs. There was a solid couple of years of Matt White running around at Port (which we received nothing), Jay Schulz emerged into a reliable forward at Port (we got Farmer, anything else?), and Ottens blossomed at Geelong - albeit he was never quite the same player after injury.
I think we are all very happy to see premiership heroes Towner, Butler and Brando find new homes and playing senior footy (Sam Lloyd also to some extent). Personally, I respect the clubs attitude towards looking after the players and finding homes for them rather than risk eventual delisting. All slightly different circumstances, but ultimately we got nothing for all 3 players with the FA compo a farce. What is hurting obviously is Dan Butler absolutely starring, and I think Dimma last week represented all of us in expressing his mixed emotions at seeing him do so well for St Kilda.
Another complicating factor being that we our list is one marquee player down with $1m missing from our salary cap due to Rance's sudden retirement. All-in-all, it is somewhat remarkable we are sitting 5th mid-way through the season. I reckon an extra $100k would have been enough to keep Brando, which is a shame (I am sure others might think it is more).
However there must be lessons learned from the departures of Butts and Brando, both of whom are in their prime and who I think we will miss even more in a couple of years when Cotchin, Riewold, Bachar, Edwards, etc. are retired and there will be some gaps in our all important list profile.
Interesting to hear people's thoughts, not so much on Butts and Brando specifically, but what we must do ensure the integrity of our list over the next 3 or 4 years as
1. key players retire, and
2. we manage a wealth of junior talent and development expertise within the club.
One learning I have is being able to retain important top 15-20 list players that are entering their prime career window, and for whatever might be in and out of the team. Brando is a good example, Matt White another where we risk missing out on the best 3 or 4 years of their careers after many years invested in their development. A good example in our current list is Kamdyn McIntosh, who despite his flaws, is a very handy player, structurally important and at 26 coming into his prime years. A type that wouldn't likely get us much in compensation, but likely to have another solid 6 years ahead of him for the club.
Obviously you can't keep everyone (and Blair Hartley is A-grade), but there is an art to managing a mature, successful, deep list.
I think we are all very happy to see premiership heroes Towner, Butler and Brando find new homes and playing senior footy (Sam Lloyd also to some extent). Personally, I respect the clubs attitude towards looking after the players and finding homes for them rather than risk eventual delisting. All slightly different circumstances, but ultimately we got nothing for all 3 players with the FA compo a farce. What is hurting obviously is Dan Butler absolutely starring, and I think Dimma last week represented all of us in expressing his mixed emotions at seeing him do so well for St Kilda.
Another complicating factor being that we our list is one marquee player down with $1m missing from our salary cap due to Rance's sudden retirement. All-in-all, it is somewhat remarkable we are sitting 5th mid-way through the season. I reckon an extra $100k would have been enough to keep Brando, which is a shame (I am sure others might think it is more).
However there must be lessons learned from the departures of Butts and Brando, both of whom are in their prime and who I think we will miss even more in a couple of years when Cotchin, Riewold, Bachar, Edwards, etc. are retired and there will be some gaps in our all important list profile.
Interesting to hear people's thoughts, not so much on Butts and Brando specifically, but what we must do ensure the integrity of our list over the next 3 or 4 years as
1. key players retire, and
2. we manage a wealth of junior talent and development expertise within the club.
One learning I have is being able to retain important top 15-20 list players that are entering their prime career window, and for whatever might be in and out of the team. Brando is a good example, Matt White another where we risk missing out on the best 3 or 4 years of their careers after many years invested in their development. A good example in our current list is Kamdyn McIntosh, who despite his flaws, is a very handy player, structurally important and at 26 coming into his prime years. A type that wouldn't likely get us much in compensation, but likely to have another solid 6 years ahead of him for the club.
Obviously you can't keep everyone (and Blair Hartley is A-grade), but there is an art to managing a mature, successful, deep list.
