Lynch makes it a win.
The removal of Miles, C Ellis, Lloyd and Stengle I have no real problems with losing.
As has been said their ceiling is fairly evident.
My problem is that we have a problem or two to solve as evidenced by our loss to the Magpies.
We need a competent second ruck, a couple of big-bodied mids and maybe a bit more height in the backline to cope with the tall forwards like Cox and the resting rucks.
We could have got Roughead which would have covered two of those problems (second ruck, extra big back).
Obviously when the Western Bulldogs said they were interested in LLoyd they would have offered Roughead as a swap.
We decided NOT to engage with that and only got pick 64 instead while Roughead went for pick 75 from Collingwood.
Either we decided he was not good enough, we had it covered or it wasn't a problem. It will be interesting to see if we use one of the young rucks and/or Chol next year.
IMO the chance to pick up Roughead was a perfect fit for us on a two year contract till we see what Soldo, CCJ and Chol can do. The same with Preuss.
The problem of mids is one that we could not solve due to the high costs involved with any of the options, either pick-wise or more often salary.
From reports Scrimshaw and Brodie were on HUGE contracts till 2020 (reported to be $400K). That knocks out those players from our POV. Scrimshaw has played 4 and Brodie 11.
Gaining Lynch will solve a problem we have had for a few years but we have not fixed problems exposed by the finals loss.
A big gamble by the list committee for next year.