ill begin by making note that i havent posted since around the time of the adelaide game. . .the agony of losing to the crows meant i needed to run away so to speak, my gf and i went to brisbane a week early and stayed up there on holiday. . .stayed, watched the brisbane match and now i think the agony needs a trip to eruope to fill the void haha. .
regarding trade talk bringing in lake/gibson etc i dont think its the answer, nor is it necessary. . As easy as it is to point fingers at certain players performances of late, i'd instead focus on what we got out of 2009.
-how good is kreuzer going to be!
-fev gets coleman medal
-made finals and got close to winning a final
-murphy breaks out into all australian calibur player. . Despite MY opinions on his defensive efforts this year
-emergence (on the whole) of joseph, robinson,hampson, bower, armfield
-jordy russell and ryan houlihan finally found something and kept regular spots in the 22
-simpson, carrazzo and thornton developing into reliable leaders for our club moving forward after all having stellar years.
-did i mention how good will kreuzer be?
-made the 8 mostly without waite, heck even without jamo.
Now for the cons of '09 - increased awareness of stevo's lack of accountability (for the record i have the number 24 on my back and love the guy to death and still see him as one of the elite)
-hartlett, grigg, bentley, anderson, bannister, cloke, fisher failed to make most of opportunities given (younger guys given excuses) and bentick and pfeiffer didnt even make a case for selection
-reliant still on likes of fev, judd, gibbs. . And even reliant on guys like hadley for his defensive efforts
-defence isnt the problem, its the midfield allowing the ball to get down there so quickly that when we have an off day, teams kick 18goals against us. . Teams like stkilda, geelong, and the swans circa '06 could have a so-so day and their forwardlines not work properly and still keep their opponents to 10-11goals and win the match.
-i remember in early '08 telling my dad 'were becoming a good side' and his response was 'as much as i love him, any side that simon wiggins can keep a regular spot in, isnt going to be feared' and to some extent i couldnt agree more. Wiggo became a viable option as a leadup forward ahead of hartlett, fisher and cloke, and at times ohailpin despite the fact wiggo is 'just a player'. Sure he works his backside off, but good honest players arent what we need if we're going to do any legit damage. . He's much needed at the club IMO because of his desire and hunger and his attitude he's a great guy to have around a club, but in 12months time i damn hope someone has stepped up and filled that position for the club's sake.
-2 losses to Essendon*= anger
So the question is, what do we need in '10? -another forward option. . Go with youth as we'll also have waite, ohailpin and kreuzer as options, something we didnt have this year due to injury and lack of 206 in the ruck lol
-hard bodied midfielder(no not bentick or bentley) someone in the style of brent reilly or corey who can attack also, rather than using joseph, houlihan and carrazzo who are naturally attacking players being used defensively
So finally, after my essay of a post which went away from the topic, my goals/expectations for 2010 are:
-minimum of top 6, with sights set at top 4. . From 10 wins in '08 to 13 this year, getting 15next year is realistic.
-watch for yarran and jacobs to be our big success stories. Hampson made huge improvements this year, but IMO jacobs and 206 are my first choices with kreuzer up forward permanently (look at the crows with sellar, tipett, maric etc and stkilda with kosi, gardiner, king. . 3 ruckman sized players can cause alot of damage, especially at docklands, a long kick from the wing on a small ground gives defenders little time to get back on their opponent from their zonal position, talls with long reaches like tipett, kreuzer, mcintosh and even jesse bloody white will cause trouble. As for yarran, watch out neon leon!
-50thousand members perhaps?
_________________ Cuck Follingwood
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