I think Sydney well and truly learnt their lesson from developing kids in the twos and now don't hesitate in bringing first year players into the 22 regularly. They lost Tom Mitchell and Tim Membrey because they were 'developed in the twos' for too long. Goodes playing one year too many cost them Membrey who would be an absolute weapon for them right now.groupie1 wrote: ↑Sat 04 Aug 2018 2:03amAs Paul Roos says over and over and over again... you can still develop players in the reserves. You call me a Geelong and Hawthorn (neither of whom have won a flag since they began their transitions, BTW) and I raise you a Sydney - eight years in the finals, flags, runners up... they develop their kids in the twos and bring them in when they're ready. They let Goodes play to 36... and yes, Brown is no star anymore (though a damn good player - he's a premiership player who played on Roo, J Brown, Pavlich, Richardson)... Sydney also had non-stars as well as stars play well into their 30s... LRT, L Barry, P Kelly, Craig Bolton, Brett Kirk....
If Austin or Goddard were up to it, no doubt they'd be in the team in lieu of Brown by now.
I have no faith in Richardson at all to be able to look a veteran like Brown in the eye (who is basically playing the role asked of him) and tell him that he's playing for Sandringham because he's not the future and we need to get games into Austin and Goddard because they have more diverse skillsets and need to get AFL experience.