WEST COAST
Take a deep breath
WEST Coast supporters were savaging the list and calling for sweeping changes well into the night last Thursday after the dreadful finals exit to the Western Bulldogs.
But as Adam Simpson said, the fundamentals of the list are in reasonable shape and with a bit of tinkering, the Eagles still have the makings of a top-four side in 2017.
The first item of business is a call to Greater Western Sydney about what it would take to bring Rory Lobb home. Lobb has had a great season for the Giants and could well be a premiership player in three weeks, which might work in West Coast's favour.
It would take something bold and audacious for the Eagles to extract him with a year remaining on his contract, but this is the time to strike.
The Eagles do need big men reinforcements in 2017, with Nic Naitanui set to be sidelined for most, if not all the season.
They might check to see whether Fremantle ruckman Zac Clarke is amenable to a cross-town, rather than cross-country move, and no doubt the prospect of Haydn Ballantyne playing at the feet of Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling will have some appeal.
Darling faces a long summer. He dropped a vital mark in last year's Grand Final and took some noticeably short steps at one stage on Thursday night.
However most of the vitriol being directed his way is from those who have never come within a bull's roar of playing League footy, and that's what he needs to remember in the long wait till next season.
The Eagles have a few players who have melted in the white-hot glare of the finals. All they can do is wait and hope for the opportunity to atone this time next year because an unforgiving supporter base, not to mention the rest of us, won't place much store in what the Eagles get done between March and August.
NORTH MELBOURNE
Make this Majak's team
The Kangaroos tied with Fremantle for the most fascinating team during the season and they'll remain a "must-watch" throughout the next few months as well.
With four starting members of the best 22 – Michael Firrito, Drew Petrie, Nick Dal Santo and AFL games record holder Brent Harvey – shunted off into retirement, North is entering a new era. The spin will be one of recalibration, but rebuild is the more operative word.
The last two might play on elsewhere and 'Boomer' Harvey's next move will bear plenty of watching, but the focus for North next year should be Majak Daw.
With Petrie gone and coach Brad Scott seemingly casting doubt on Jarrad Waite's playing future as well, North has 12 months to see whether Daw is a long-term prospect as a key forward.
Daw played well on Saturday night with four goals. He was the only North forward who posed any sort of threat, but he has still played just 25 games in four years, including nine this year.
The 25-year-old appeared to be the fourth in line on the key forward depth chart behind Petrie, Waite and Ben Brown. But as the club finally turns its focus to youth, (a long overdue development in the minds of some), the forward line can be built around Daw, Ben Brown and Mason Wood, who was emerging rapidly before his late-season knee injury.
How they structure up the forward line is among a raft of on and off-field questions for the Kangaroos, who will enter 2017 with a new president (Ben Buckley), head of football (Cameron Joyce) and lots of fresh faces on the ground.
