Thoughts on the season.

A few random thoughrs on different aspects of the season.

Form.

The good:

There is no doubt that our form improved greatly over the last half of the season. Getting games into players and presumably players responding to a different coach(ing) philosophy led to much better results which may give cause for optimism.

The bad.

Our 4th wooden spoon in a row, again with a very poor percentage. We set a new record of successive defeats and 2 of our wins came against a team of top up players and an inaccurate South.

Causes for optimism.

We have developed some handy players - Gore, Edwards, Park, Stevens, etc and have some promising juniors - Steene, Barnett, Ryan etc.

Causes for concern

The above-named juniors are likely to be drafted and our better players will all be a year older in their 30s - Beechy, Keough, Hartlett.

Next post- recruiting.

very spot on in my opinion lethal

I also think the balance in coaching ranks need to be discussed --- i am not saying sack present and install Adam but it does seem apparent that the change in how our coaches worked coincided with improved field performance.

I am very concerned that apart from Logan (little superstar) we may lose 3-4 of our top players plus several others to AFL --- our future is quality kids not good enough for AFL

Recruiting

Good -

Hartlett was a risk and looked doubtful half-way through thr season, but his second half undoubtedly gave us our wins, IMO. So, rated A.

Brand, very good -A.

Then we had a number of players who played league, but also a lot of Reserves. Some have time on their side to become regulars, but most have struggled. They include Delahunty, Marslen, Rubock, Mattingly, etc.

Clayton Gay languished in the 2s, got his chance and showed great upside for a young player and was immediately put back in the 2s.

Edwards and Park, turned out to be servicable to good, so A-.

I've no doubt forgotten some, but overall a reasonable result given recruiting is so difficult.

Chamberlain, of course, was an A+.

We have lost Logan, Beechy, Tommy and Hamish are so important but have limited time.

The question is whether we should have shown faith in Kennedy, Ryan, Barnett, Gay, etc instead of giving them a game or two and sending them back to the 2s and 18s.

Who knows what's right

I think our recruiting was very good. Agree with most of Lee’s thoughts.
I think we’ve got the nucleus of a good side.
We must get a league standard ruckman for next year.
We also need a couple of midfielders.
No doubt we will lose a few players, particularly to the AFL.
I believe at this point Keough is uncertain on playing next year.
Have also heard the salary cap will increase but not by very much.
Makes it hard to get good players……..

bring taite silverlock into coaching ranks