Gero, I’m not sure if Lloyd did a good job. I don’t presume to know who was calling the shots. Was it Lloyd or Bond? Did Lyon overrule them? I don’t presume to know what information was in front of each individual, who was advocating for what course of action.
I’m also just not as quick to assume that because we are lousy at playing football at the moment it means everyone at the club is doing a lousy job. I think there is a tendency to conflate giving individuals the benefit of the doubt with support for those individuals.
I’m also of the view that no-one, or club, operates outside a complex system. I’m not a football libertarian, as it were. On any objective measure Freo is a mid or lower tier club in the AFL hierarchy that had a decent run, and therefore didn’t have a top 10 draft pick from the years 2010-2015. We also didn’t have the systemic benefits of other privileged clubs in the AFL (eg Sydney’s COLA, Hawthorn and Geelong having Brownlow Medallists walk in the front door, Richmond’s home ground advantage).
I also don’t completely discount luck. Those 6 years without a top 10 pick were bookended by the selections of Morabito and Logue. You just can’t afford to miss on those picks, as we did with Mora (and may do with Logue). If we had Dusty or Cunnington (selected immediately before or after Mora) in our side, we’d be a lot better. But does that mean whoever selected Morabito made an error? I’m not so sure. Certainly from what we all saw of Mora in his first year he could have been anything. Similarly I thought Bennell was a worthwhile risk. It didn’t come off. Does that mean it was a bad decision? Again, I don’t know. I don’t know what the Doctors said. I don’t know what information was in front of blokes like Lloyd. I know I would find it hard to not take a punt on that sort of talent.
I honestly don’t know how anyone can have such a negative view of his performance without being at the club.
