To short answer your subject question Y&B, no we didn't go too early.
To respond to each player individually:
Mumford - only came about after the Franklin trade which left the Swans unable to match his contract offer. The fact he went to GWS tells me he never intended or wanted to move from the Sydney area so we were never in the hunt for him.
McEvoy - again, only came about after a number of other moves and he was far too expensive in terms of picks/swaps for what we would have been prepared to pay so again, we were never in the hunt for him.
Hampson - ticked most of the boxes the club was after - age, trade price, contract terms, ability (or potential) and the decision by both parties had obviously been made long before the trade period.
Longer - Still hasn't found a new home and at 20 still has question marks as well as the potential for big improvement but isn't going to come cheaply and again, we were never in the hunt for him.
If the club had decided to wait until the cards started to topple then there is the very real likelihood that we could have ended up without a ruckman or paying way over the odds for one so I think that going early was the smartest thing to do by a long way. Life is far easier and risk-averse when you deal in knowns and Hampson at the price was a known right from day one. The decision was a no-brainer of the highest order for a club that is now very much following a planned, methodical approach to list growth and management. If Hampson is a success or not is for another debate but the decision to take him when they did was certainly the correct one.
How do you know any of this poo? Do you work at the club?
Where does it say Mumford wouldn't have left Sydney?
How do you know our pick 11 (at the time) wouldn't 't have been enough to get McEvoy from St. Kilda?
Why couldn't we have been in the hunt for Longer? We have pick 12 FFS.
You talk about "you deal in the knowns" well you don't know anything you wrote is that.
It's your opinion what you wrote, but don't claim it to be anything else but that because you don't know.
But since you seem to no so much about our "planned, methodical approach to list growth and management" please tell us all what this approach is??
And lastly you saying taking Hampson is curtainly the correct decision is again just your opinion, the club made that decision but it doesn't mean it's the correct one. The club took Jordie McMahon and how did that end up for us?
