We may have been forced to do it as we were broke and on our knees when KB was coach but yep he did the right thing filling up the list with young cubs even if some high draft picks were flops like Lounder and Banik. KB's cubs formed the core of our 95 finals side. We just didn't build upon and around that core post-95 and instead paid too few too much of the salary cap.
As for now I think 2008 put us back on track. When Plough first arrived there was an expectation we'd have a short window open up towards the end of his 5-year contract with the older guys still around supplemented by the developing newbies and then a longer sustained window when the younger guys come through together and hit their mid 20s peak. The first shorter finals window may now only be 2 years long 2009-10 with Richo, Browny, Simmo, Sugar, Joel and now Cuz approaching retirement (depends on how long they last and injuries). The way we have targetted gaps in our list in this year's drafts clearly means we are going for finals as the club has publicly said numerous times. We may then dip down for a year or two before rising again say around 2012-13 when the new core hits their mid 20s. Lids and the 2004 draftees would be then 25-26 y.o. whereas Cotch, Vickery and co. would be 22. How well we handle the Gold Coast period of raking the draft will decide how quickly we'll rise again after the Richo years.
