Interesting comments made by Ron Fuller.

[once_were_warriors]

Two coaches in the same period

Hamilton coached in 2000

I think we are now getting a core group of players that will continue into the next 2-3 years

Pasador
Lindsay( he will play till he's 36)
Cicca
Powell
Treeby
McKenzie
Groke
Fiachi
Jarrad

Will all be regulars in the coming years

Whether we take our opportunities is the question

[Blue Boy]

It is easier to retain players when you are winning premierships - no doubt.

The Eagles in that era have had alot of players listed with the crows which had to cause some instability and inflated numbers ( 10 ) .

Off spellys list

Shirley 3
Crowell 2
Biglands 1
Bock 1
D Gallagher 1
Knights 1
Mcgregor 1
Skipworth 1
Vince 1
Watts 1

[FlyingHigh]

True, Blueboy, but 7 out of those 10 players were from the Eagles originally, and Knights has made a contribution over a few years now. Fair enough about Gallagher and Watts coming and going quickly.

[Mickyj]

There's a lot more to read in to that than purely numbers.

Think we all agree with you there. Spelly was just responding to the initial comments that questioned whether there was even a player-number discrepancy to begin with. Before we even debate the why's.

Full credit to the Doggies for keeping their playing group so intact - they are the benchmark for the SANFL in a lot of areas. You could argue that the Eagles may have more than 1 premiership by now if they had managed the same .... hypothetically speaking.

I think the Eagles have done well keeping their group intact - it's just not always been a good enough group on some days at the end of the season... !

Perhaps Ron has been hearing the things being said about 17 players gone from last year and then jon Flo retiring.
But to me we need to do things like that for the club to grow and get another flag.

[Mickyj]

It is easier to retain players when you are winning premierships - no doubt.

The Eagles in that era have had alot of players listed with the crows which had to cause some instability and inflated numbers ( 10 ) .

Off spellys list

Shirley 3
Crowell 2
Biglands 1
Bock 1
D Gallagher 1
Knights 1
Mcgregor 1
Skipworth 1
Vince 1
Watts 1

The majority of the home grown Eagles players mentioned above were taken after Mark Mikan returned to the Crows from the eagles .And you may notice they played 1 GF what eagles fans have learned that when the finals roll around the home grown eagles who are at the crows suddenly are not allowed to play. And sometimes when they played it may have been better if that didn't .
All this leads to the EAGLES team not relying on their Crows players as was shown by Ron fuller last year playing the returning crows players in the seconds .Which may have bumped up the price on Macgowans head seeing the twos made it into the finals .
And we all know whose colours are on top of the brewery chimney this year don't we.