PREMIERSHIP windows.

There’s been a lot of talk about different clubs this year and whether or not they’ve missed the boat with their current lists.

The one thing that is certain is that you need absolutely everything going right in a given year to reach the pinnacle.

I guess when one uses the term premiership window, they’re talking about a club getting itself in the position to actually go all the way in September.

To do so, it is important to have a certain amount of experience in terms of games per player but, just as importantly you just need everything to go your way.

With AFL lists now at 38, things can happen so quickly and change in the blink of an eye.

Injuries can and obviously do play a huge part, so it doesn’t take much to throw a club’s plans way off course.

This has probably played a large part at St Kilda, the club where my mate Rossy Lyon took over last year.

The Saints have been feeling the heat for some time now, with some questioning whether the club’s best opportunity to win a flag with its star-studded list might have passed.

Ideally, a coach wants to get hold of his best talent when they’re coming into the peak of their powers.

Had the Saints been able to get a young, fit Koschitzke and Riewoldt, up and running with a younger Gehrig and Harvey, who knows what might have been?

But through no fault of anyone, they copped a number of injuries in a few crucial years and simply haven’t been able to contend as much as they’d have liked.

Unfortunately for Rossy and everyone at Moorabbin injuries have continued to plague their side to this year, but I’m sure if they have all their players on the field they will be a very good side.

The fact of the matter is for your premiership window to remain “open”, you need your best team playing as often as possible.

The competition is just so even now, and in recent years we’ve seen how quickly teams are able to reload.

The Brisbane Lions are a terrific example of a side that has come again in just a short space of time.

After making four straight grand finals a few years back, everyone thought we’d seen the back of them for a while as they headed into what the footy world thought would be a long, rebuilding phase.

Now, we’re seeing those younger stars of the premiership days – Black, Brown, Power, Bradshaw and co – lead the way with a new brigade of Lions.

Leigh Matthews’ ability to marry his older players with his younger, emerging stars has been a key in his team’s revival.

There’s been several good examples of late that have showed not only how quickly clubs can rebound, but of just how even the AFL competition has become.

In 2003 everyone said we were rebuilding after the retirements of Paul Kelly and Andrew Dunkley, yet we went on to make a preliminary final.

Last year people believed Port Adelaide was re-stocking for another charge but we all saw what they were able to do. 

The bottom line is you’ve got to have a reasonable idea where you are as a footy club.

Here at the Sydney Swans, we deliberately re-stock with players who we think can keep us in contention and keep that premiership window open.

I think if clubs are smart, they can actually do that through the draft.

In the past for example we’ve taken a Darren Jolly as opposed to a pick 15 or Teddy Richards as opposed to pick 19.

We’ve selected these guys to help us stay competitive as we’ve made a conscious decision that we need to be around the mark.

As a club, we know we can’t afford to go down the bottom for two or three years, so that is a deliberate strategy of ours.

But, last year for example we also did draft some kids. While we hope and are confident our rookies do come on for our future success, for now we hope our older guys continue to blend with our younger types – the Craig Birds and Jarred Moores.

So when it comes to premiership windows, I’m not sure that they exist. What I am sure of is you need your best players out on the park. Hopefully the injury gods smile on all of us.

The view in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of the clubs or the AFL.