2010

We HAVE no idea what the Cats might be planning for next season in terms of recruitment, whether they are looking at chasing a big-name player or really want to focus purely on bringing more young kids in for the future. But throwing our 10 cents worth in, we would certainly be chasing hard to get someone like Barry Hall.

There has been lots of debate already about which is the best way for the Cats to go, and in a market like Queensland We think you need that something, or someone, different. You need someone with a big name who has the ability to win games and attract people to the footy. It's a tough market.

From a playing perspective, the Cats have got a couple of young guys who are very promising but it would be a pretty tough time for them to handle it on their own right now.

We think the club has got to go out for one of the big-name forwards, and they obviously have a bit of money freed up now with Roundy gone and Fults possibly going, and perhaps a couple of others at the end of the year as well.

Now, in terms of who you go after, there aren't too many options. If you're willing to spend the money and the draft picks, you want the best you can get, so you want a champion footballer who will help your club in that area, someone with a bit of character who the fans and media will love, and someone whose number the kids are going to want on their back. For us, the two guys in the competition who would fit perfectly into the role on the Coast are Bazza or Jonathan Brown, and we don't think Browny is going anywhere but Brisbane at the moment.

Would Baz suit Broadie? We think that a season with the Cats plus a couple of well promoted fights under lights against the Tarrant Brother and Jacko at the Cattery would fit perfectly. He's just a champion player with a problem that our coaches could fix, and we think he would also fit this market perfectly. The Coast likes someone a bit different to the standard footy player: a character with a big personality and mafia connections, a bankrupt who can also play a bit. Baz fits the criteria, there's no doubt, and if we were in the Cat's footy department we'd be doing whatever we could to see if there's any chance of doing that deal.

You could still develop kids, but we still need some senior backbone there, you can't throw the kids to the wolves.

PS: We think it was around this time last year when we were going through a few issues that the story came out that Smithy met Baz for a crate of crownies to discuss a move to Broadie, and someone wrote that Roundy was being forced out so the club could get Baz (Smithy wanted Fevalenko as first choice but settled on Baz on the basis of brains). Well, step one is complete.