Very pleased with our trades and draft selections overall. We traded and drafted following our 'bring a group of similiar aged talent through together' strategy, filled in some obvious 'holes/deficencies' in our list and obtained an extremely talented onfield leader.
Thomson and Hislop will add depth to our midfield young talent.
Vickery is a quality forward/ruckman which we were desperately in need of with the fast approaching retirement of Simmonds and no obvious replacement.
Post could play either end of the ground and will aid further depth to both ends of the ground.
Cousins is a star. Despite his well documented personal off-field issues he will bring a huge amount to the club. The biggest positive is the influence he will have on our developing stars work ethic, training and loyalty to the team. Cousins is reknown for his on-field leadership skills which has been our biggest deficency for decades. He inspires his team-mates through his actions and demands success from his team.
In addition the sheer amount of positive media attention, increased membership, sponsorship and overall club morale is worth his selection on its own. It is a risky choice with a big downside if it all goes pear shaped but the potential positives are equally extreme. After picking up Vickery, Cousins is my favourite selection by far.
I know very little about the rookies but what I have read is that we have gone for a mixture of potential and needs. Rookies are always speculative choices at best so any successes out of this lot would be a bonus.
Picking up
Gourdis has shown we are good to our word, loyal to the players and once again good for team morale.
Very pleased with our trades and drafting! Well done FJ and CC.
Stripes