Gee it's easy to be dismissive of other clubs while crowing about our stagnant, aging list.
Carlton just haven't got Judd, they had 5 years of early picks. Gibbs, Murphy, Kruezer, Judd et al are going to cause some headaches this year. Fevola won the Coleman medal when they were at their crappiest.....just imagine the delivery he'll get now. Not saying they're gonna win a flag or anything, but they'll be big improvers IMO.
West Coast gone? They were without Cousins last year...and Judd was restricted with his groin. They still have a very strong list and some quality midfielders....Kerr, Selwood, Priddis, Rosa, Embley....
2008
Team Years Days
Carlton 22 146
West Coast Eagles 22 167
Hawthorn 22 220
Brisbane Lions 22 243
Port Adelaide 22 340
Essendon 22 351
Richmond 23 11
Melbourne 23 50
Collingwood 23 56
Western Bulldogs 23 73
Geelong 23 91
North Melbourne 23 99
Adelaide Crows 23 124
Sydney Swans 23 301
St.Kilda 24 1
Fremantle Dockers 24 149
If you actually take a look at the list Brisbane have the 4th youngest team in the AFL.
Those averages are interesting in the context of Schneider's claim that he is now part of a young emerging team, whereas the Swans are old and crusty. Admittedly the Saints' average age is distorted by having the 88 year old Robert Harvey still playing (and going strong) but they will also be hoping to get significant contributions out of the semi-reluctant Gehrig, the perenially injured Hudghton and a creaky old ruck division of King and Gardiner.
The most striking thing, though, if you look at lists of average ages of squads is how relatively little difference there is between the oldest and youngest. All clubs will have a veritable barrage of players between 18 and 21, many of whom will never play an AFL game and most of the rest who'll not get to 50 games. You only need a handful to emerge each year, and an "ideal" list surely has to be one with a good spread of senior team contributors from ages 21 or so up to their early 30s (since only the pretty good ones last that long), with a handul of younger players pushing their way through.
Some clubs (notably Hawthorn) have been talking up the advantages of having a large number of high draft picks all mature at the same time, but the salary cap is a significant obstacle to making that work in practice, even if all your players come on as you'd like them to.
Swans to miss the spring - Sydney - realfooty.com.au
Connolly - 10th
Walls - 11th
We're definitely in!
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