Why did we think we were on the cusp?

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Why did we think we were on the cusp?

Post: # 1716885Post Moods »

I'll tell you why? Because back in 2004 suddenly our kids suddenly came on and we all believed that it would all just happen again. Like it's that easy.
There are reasons why our kids developed back in 01-04 compared to now.

Back then we had a healthy smattering of senior stars that the kids could look up to. We had Loewe and Burkey finishing up, but we still had Harves, Hamill and Gehrig from other clubs while the kids reached their potential. The kids today have no-one at all to lead them. Roo and Joey have now gone and there is no-one left. From 2013 onward we lost Dal, BJ, Lenny. We literally have no-one left to show them how it's done.

We all thought that early draft picks would be our saviour but quite often it doesn't translate. Look at Carlton. In the mid 2000's they were awful and had multitudes of #1 draft picks. During that period they had Kruezer, Gibbs, Murphy and recently weitering. They also had Judd, Waite who were very early picks. They haven't played in a prelim final since 2000. Nearly 20 years, and they don't look like playing in one any time soon.

Maybe in hindsight Thomas should be given far more credit than many of us were ever prepared to? I, for one thought he did a great job, but was more than happy when a 'real' coach turned up in 07 to take the reigns.

It takes someone special (like Clarkson) to bond the group and empower them. It takes a special leader or leaders to take comtrol of the group. Thommo's leadership program was probably underated, but it developed some fantastic leaders in Roo and Lenny. It takes more than early draft picks. You need some skill and luck in picking correctly and the right structures in palce to carry the group fwd. History may well look unkindly on this era and Richo's legacy appears to sit uneasily as someone who couldn't get the best out of the group


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Joffa Burns
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Re: Why did we think we were on the cusp?

Post: # 1716889Post Joffa Burns »

Not sure we all believed we were on the cusp, but we were certainly told we were on the cusp by club and coach.
I think a few points gave us hope, if not belief.

1. The grand plan top 4 by 2018
2. Premiership by 2020
3. Improvement in 2016
4. Challenged for finals in 2016/17
5. Premierships to Dogs and Tigers
6. Stable mature coach who was building a structure and pressure based game plan
7. Some exiting wins (GWS match) where we looked the real deal
8. Hope the likes of Paddy and Billings would be the next Reiwoodt and Dal Santo


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