I could easily be wrong. I was wrong about where we would finish this year as I thought second last was a possibility and I had us bottom four on the dockerland season predictions thread. I thought we did okay all things considered.
I am far bleaker about our list than others on here although there were some successes. Hughes became a player this season, Tucker improved and i am excited about him, although a bit disappointed he only signed for 2 and not 3. Lobb was good and Brayshaw improved as the season wore on. But as soon as we had an injury or two everything fell apart. Our depth players just simply are not good enough,although i concede there is a chance some will improve.
Both Giro and Crowden have been tried and don’t look up to it, although they have youth on their side. North can’t kick from what others have said. Nyhuis never set the world on fire and had a couple of shockers in the main team. Meek and Dixon look underwhelming. Who knows with Sturt and Valente, but bear in mind they were high picks.
The biggest mistakes however have been the mature age players. Surely recruiters pick these players because they can make an immediate impact. Jones, Schulz, Bewley, Banfield and Switkowski have all been poor. I am not seeing long term afl players in this group. Switkowski possibly but his kicking is terrible.
When David Parkin went for the Sydney job many years ago the board asked him what he thought of the list and instead of answering he asked them what they thought. They all thought they should be playing finals the next year. He disagreed and said no thanks to the job. I think our new coach is on a hiding to nothing for a couple of years. But who knows. At times this year Freo looked fantastic and at other times we looked like the worst team in the competition. I feel sorry for Fyfe, Walters, Mundy etc because I don’t see success on the horizon.
