Going forward, GeelongFootball Manager Neil Balme believes their newly recruited big-bodied players willhelp the club to meet their main objective of preserving their force.
In the trade on Wednesday afternoon,Geelong gained Demon’s 26-year-old forward Mitch Clark (198cm) and St Kilda’s23-year-old Rhys Stanley (200cm).
Although list maintenance isa difficult task, Balme says the future of the club must take priority whenrecruiting new players.
“That’s our huge challenge –how do we keep the list relevant, how do we keep it strong going forward, notjust this year, or not just next year, not just the year after that even,”Balme said outside AFL house post the Clark and Stanley trade.
“We’ve got to try andmaintain our position and strength in the competition.”
According to Balme, bothClark and Stanley were recruited in support of the club’s future plans, asoppose to an immediate fix.
“They’re longer-termconsiderations for our list management. It’s what we’ve always got in mind,”Balm said.
“It should be a couple ofrelatively young big blokes coming in, which should help us in the longerterm.”
After gaining two talls inthis year’s trade, Geelong will enter the draft with picks number 10, 47, 55 and60, where they hope to catch some young talent to boost their future midfield.
“That’s something we alwayslook at (adding midfield depth) in the draft and it’s always on your mind,”Balme explained.
“You can’t necessarily solveeverything at once, but certainly in our thinking we’ve got all those thingsvery much very clearly where we know what we need to do.”
“Whether we can satisfy themremains to be seen.”
Balme acknowledges theimportance of the draft, however, he says it’s just as important to keepexperience on your list to uphold the club’s position.
“It’s pretty hard when theplayers you draft mainly are 18, because if they’re 18, unless they’re exceptional,they’ve got some years to go before they have an impact at AFL level,” Balmesaid.
“So it’s very hard toreplace, say for example a 15-year player with a player who’s played for 15minutes.
“That’s the reality of it, sowhile the draft is a very, very important part of the strategy (to sourceplayers) it can’t be only the draft, I don’t think.”
Over the last three yearsGeelong have added five mature players to the list, including Jared Rivers, asan unrestricted free agent, and Hamish McIntosh, Josh Caddy, Mitch Clark andRhys Stanley via the trade.
