Building a winning list takes smarts

REPEAT after me. “Bottoming out and rebuilding doesn’t guarantee you premierships.” Geelong finds itself at the crossroads right now after yet another finals failure. For the past few seasons it has topped up its list to win another premiership. It hasn’t. And what’s more of concern is just how predictable Geelong’s finals performances have become. But that doesn’t mean the Cats’ decision to bring in top end talent like Patrick Dangerfield, Gary Ablett, Lachie Henderson and Zach Tuohy and trade away its first round draft picks in the process was a bad one. Far from it, in fact. The AFL world is going through a significant shift in the way premiership lists can be built. Traditionally, the only way you could get to the top was through the draft and maybe a little bit of creative trading. But player movement is now a lot more mobile with free agency and the top clubs are the ones that are seemingly best placed to take advantage of that. Just look at Tom Lynch as an example. He is Gold Coast’s biggest asset, a player they can’t afford to lose. Now the free agent is likely to head to Richmond, a team that’s favourite to win this year’s premiership.

The move isn’t all about money, but about getting success and being part of a club with a strong culture.

Being a team that consistently plays finals makes you a destination club and when you’re a destination club you have access to the best players in the competition.

A move down the ladder means you lose that aura. So what happens after that? Those good first round picks that you select, nurture and develop have the chance to move once they become free agents.

And the odds are if you’re not on the verge of success they’re either going home or going to a club in a premiership window. Or you’re forced to pay above market value or give longterm contracts to keep them. Back to square one you go. What Geelong is doing may not be orthodox, but the club is in many ways pioneering the new version of list management.

It may not have delivered the ultimate success, but it is keeping the Cats in the premiership window.

And as supporters, all you can ask for is to be part of a club that is contending.

There’s no doubt Geelong needs to go through a thorough review during the off-season in a bid to find answers as to why they keep falling at the finals hurdle.

Clearly, there are some issues around the game plan that need to be addressed.

But to say the club needs to start thinking about dropping down the ladder and banking top end talent through the draft is flawed and risks seeing the Cats become irrelevant.

And if that happens, it’s years, if not decades, that will be needed to get back to the top.