Take a look at this team and tell me the 2010 variety wasn't our most talented -
http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=5120.
2006 and 2013 are not even close. The 2010 team had elements of both but all of our guns were in their prime except Fyfe and Hasleby and we had a backline of Roger, Duffman, Broughton and Tarrant, to go with McPharlin and Johnson. 2006 had Farmer. 2013 had Walters and peak Fyfe. Otherwise no comparison and 2006 had five or six guys who wouldn't make the 2013 team. Harvey was headed for a premiership with the 2010 group until Barlow's leg break.
I agree that it is mostly about the players available when it comes to winning a premiership. It is extremely rare that a low talent team wins it or a supremely talented team fails to win anything. A lot of people thought those Malcolm Blight Geelong GF teams should have won something but they had some real dead weight in there compared to the opposition. His Adelaide teams didn't have weak links.
I think coaches are more about the years building up to a premiership and attracting good players because they can see the potential. That's where a good brand of football can attract talent, something Lyon needs to work on, although I think we were playing it during part of our run of wins earlier in the season. Then it's about injury management (not the coach) and keeping players motivated.
West Coast defeated by Fremantle
Round 6, Domain Stadium, Attendance: 40886
Sunday, 2nd May 2010, 2:40 PM AWST
Player K HB D M G B T HO I50 FF FA AF SC
Michael Barlow 10 15 25 4 1 0 8 0 5 1 1 108 126
Paul Duffield 17 7 24 3 0 0 4 0 6 0 1 87 120
Paul Hasleby 6 15 21 2 0 0 6 0 3 0 1 75 77
David Mundy 7 14 21 1 0 0 10 1 3 2 1 92 125
Greg Broughton 12 7 19 6 0 0 3 0 1 2 0 82 92
Rhys Palmer 9 9 18 3 1 0 2 0 2 1 1 66 82
Stephen Hill 7 10 17 3 0 0 3 0 4 1 0 63 44
Matthew Pavlich 11 5 16 8 5 2 5 0 4 0 0 119 125
Michael Johnson 12 4 16 6 3 0 2 3 1 0 3 82 58
Hayden Ballantyne 9 7 16 3 0 3 3 0 3 0 1 62 78
Luke McPharlin 7 7 14 4 0 0 4 0 1 1 0 64 68
Christopher Mayne 5 9 14 4 2 0 5 0 1 1 2 72 86
Dylan Roberton 13 1 14 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 57 74
Alex Silvagni 10 3 13 2 0 0 7 0 1 0 3 61 43
Aaron Sandilands 4 8 12 2 1 0 4 33 0 2 1 88 114
Adam McPhee 8 4 12 2 0 0 5 0 4 1 2 53 49
Anthony Morabito 8 4 12 3 0 1 4 2 4 0 2 54 65
Ryan Crowley 3 8 11 2 0 0 7 1 0 0 1 57 46
Chris Tarrant 7 3 10 1 0 0 6 0 1 1 1 52 57
Matthew De Boer 4 6 10 2 0 0 4 0 2 0 1 43 46
Roger Hayden 4 5 9 0 2 0 6 0 1 0 2 52 50
Nathan Fyfe 5 2 7 3 2 0 5 0 1 0 0 60 74