Why would DCE want to remain at a club when a new and improved offer is really a "2nd chance lucky dip draw" prize. DCE would rightfully be thinking I was not important enough to start with so why should I go back now--- I think in this scenario where personal pride is at stake money will not change a thing.
Lets move on, invest heavily in the best recruitment, the best development structures/pathways and push to get our facilities up to a professional looking standard as the main priorities.
Playing at a 1970's looking Brookvale Oval is not going to attract or have players enthusiastic to move from facilities that are better--- on top of not looking professional enough to attract good corporate sponsorship and membership packages will be limited.
If nothing is set in stone/concrete about a major Brookie development in 2-3yrs time it is time to bite the bullet and move to the SFS.
Remember people our success for years (2009 onwards mainly--- before that we paid overs for class) was based around the best recruitment with young halves who were still on the rise---the 2011 and 2013 GF's were with halves who had not reached their peak and not at the top of the pay scale. Basically Manly extracted the potential at a faster rate getting great value for money----from this point on you are paying overs for their class leadership and skillset with not the likelihood of the same return on investment as Manly achieved.
