Thompson nearly got sacked because he had made finals the previous two seasons finishing 4th and 5th. In 2006 they had a whole heap of developing players entering key age and games played kpi,s .
Bartel, Ablett,Chapman, Corey, Enright, Egan, Kelly, Mackie, Hunt, Johnson,King, Rooke, Johnson,Mooney, Ottens, Scarlett, Wojcinski and others were all aged between 22 and 27 yrs and they missed finals
2006 They were expected to at least play in a preliminary final when they missed altogether they had a review.
The one saving grace for them in 2006 was the fact the low finish enabled them to draft Selwood who was probably the missing midfield piece to their puzzle and for a first yr player had a very good first yr.
Personally i think we are more like the Hawks of 2008 they won one out of the blue and then narrowly missed finals in 2009 and from there continued to add to eventually build a dynasty.
We won in 2017 out of the blue and yes unlike the Hawks we finished on top the following yr, but imo like the Hawks we do need to add some more pieces build some genuine depth and add some more polish to get close to a dynasty.