Bring it home Knights said:
roopy, it's a good thread, but you have to be joking. That team is missing to many decent players
I agree. Great concept (albeit having been done before), but that team is very bare without some of the current players. What you are talking about is blooding seven new players in less than two years. It is highly likely that we will blood more than seven new players, but I find it difficult to believe that seven new players will make up our first-choice team.
The team you have named leaves only five current regulars, with another five who have only begun playing first grade fairly recently. I'm not sure I'd like to see such a fresh team, even if they're all superstars.
The 2008 team, barring career-ending injuries or poaching would have to include Thaiday (a certainty) and so too Tighe and Perry. Woolnough should still be a fringe first grader even if his form has reached its peak, and Tolar is included here too. Abraham is still young and has all the makings of an exceptional player for the back row. I'm not convinced his career is over, and would like to think he will still be around (assuming his long-term injuries are behind him).
As for Johns -- yes, he is signed until the end of 2008. But it's going to come down to motivation. If Johns decides he still wants to play, and he isn't injured, he'll probably go all the way to 2008. But judging on current indications, he's a bit flat on motivation and he seems frustrated. I'm not sure the boys will ever play at his standard, and his current frame of mind is a bit of a worry. I think he will play again next year, regardless of this year's result (unless we win the comp, which might be a good time to go), but 2008 is completely up to him. The club won't want to be paying someone who doesn't want to be there, and therefore are virtually guaranteed to support whatever Johns decides to do -- it is completely up to Johns.
