Grant Jones
Ted Fahey (11)
Could argue all day about what players could/should be in first grade. Smith was lucky to be in 3's because he rarely trained, spears was injured most of the year and Tarrant had games in first grade this year but he will even admit he prob needed more time in 2's to develop. He actually got offered a first grade spot at Easts by his cousin is Osborne, but like many players would rather play 2's at our club than first grade elsewhere because of the mates he had at Queanbeyan and how much he loves playing for the club!When I referred earlier to the 'parachuting' imports over your 2nd's and 3rd's, I was referring to players like Brendan Spears, Zac Tarrant, Nathan Smith - not the players you mentioned.
Without knowing if they were injured, didn't train etc - they are all very good players. I wouldn't take it for granted any player of their calibre sticking around when they could (and should) push for 1st XV/higher honours.
We won't always be so fortunate with depth at our club, we do have a number of players who are first grade standard and some might go elsewhere for an opportunity, however I think we are better than a lot of clubs at promoting our own players. And yes we do recruit when we feel that we need a class player or two to add to our side to give us that chance of knocking off the big teams.