I too am rather interested in what the alternative might be
All those who continually disparage our wins are the most vocal of how poor the list is.
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I get the frustrations with many posters on here.
No final wins for 21 years is unchartered territory.
The main huge difference to me this year is all our draft picks, with possibly one exception, are really showing a lot of positives.
Add to the 5 already debuting, potentially 3 or 4 more this year and we are confidently heading into the Draft and next year.
The only negative is the long term injuries, which is going to require a big effort from our rehab team.
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I’m trying to work out IF thats the case because I’m certainly 1 who didn’t rate our list highly but I’m actually more buoyant about the clubs direction now than I have been for a decade. I’ll take a win against the Sydney kents any & every day we can. I hate them more than any other club even farkCarlton.
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They’re missing a 3rd of their best side.
Don’t know about anyone else, but my voice is absolutely cooked after yesterday
Really enjoyed that win
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You’re misunderstanding me. I think we’re overachieving.
Agreed!
To be fair, that’s because it’s Groundhog Day.
It’s the same thing (wins against bottom teams, injury depleted or plain out-of-form sides) as every other year. But not enough wins to amount to anything.
The names on our team sheet change but not really much else.
We have the odd player who looks a standout. This year its Reid. Previously it been Ridley, Redmans been there. Perkins was the messiah for a hot minute. Etc. etc.
Injuries are always a problem as they are again this year.
We always roll with a couple of players who are aren’t up to it like Jones or Menzie.
And we always manage to bring in at least one player who’s better suited to the seconds, but we spend a year or two arguing about whether he’s good enough or not before he gets delisted. Previously Kelly, now it’s prior.
The piece de resistance however will be our ladder position at seasons end. Almost guaranteed to be smack bang in no man’s land once again.
We don’t have the A grade talent to be a contender and we are unlikely (once again) to have access to the top of the draft where that talent is more regularly available. We will also likely fail to attract A Grade talent in trade because we are not remotely close to being a contender.
I think that means it’s fair to question how we are supposed to actually go from where we are now to somehow winning finals and flags.
Especially on the cusp of the expansion nonsense that’s coming.
We have seen this movie 20 times already and the ending has been pretty much the same throughout.
Of course its fkn awesome to beat Sydney and to beat north for the 50th time in a row or whatever, but when the euphoria subsides, is there much actual evidence to suggest that we are on the road to a new destination?
I don’t know, but I do know that we’ve seen a lot of these tropes play out the same way many, many times before.
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i make it they are missing 5 -6 of there best 22, we have 5 -6 best 22 out and playing our ruck coach. They were no worse off than us but could rely on bringing experience in, we did not have that luxury
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That same Sydney side from yesterday only last week comfortably accounted for GWS who everybody on here has blown their load about weekly for the last what? 5 years? as the best team ever.
And I’ve been a critic of us all year.
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You might be surprised.
5 to 6 out for us ? Really? Ridley, draper are clearly best 22. Parish, yes but there’s an unresolved balance question there. Bryan, arguably 2mp in this form keeps him out and draper in the ruck. Tstats hasn’t locked away a spot yet
Gulden, papley and mills are undeniably a grade absences and McDonald and amartey or at least one of them are key structural pieces. Adams is probably fringe. Cunningham has been a pretty consistent feature of their teams in recent years
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|Nick Bryan|Knee|
|Sam Draper|Achilles|
|Tom Edwards|Knee|
|Jade Gresham|Adductor|
|Harrison Jones|Ankle
|Darcy Parish|Calf|
|Jordan Ridley|
This is our injury list, we have also just had cox and guelfi come back to vfl. Are they all A graders? Of course not, But if all these players were fit, whether you like it or not 5 - 6 of them would be in our 22.
The point is, Sydney have way more backup than we do, more experience, they were in a GF last year.
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I guess it depends who’s best 22 you’re using.
If you’re using Brad’s, we’re definitely missing 5-6, possibly more.
Doesn’t mean they’re the same quality as Sydney’s of course.
These wins are like eating a big bowl of Icecream.
It’s the best thing in the world when you’re doing it.
But then afterwards, you regret it and realise you’re gonna be paying for it long term.
The WC and norf wins were like ice cream. Yesterday’s win didn’t feel like that tbh. Especially doing it with so many youngsters in the team.
This was against a Sydney team who bullied and comfortably beat a very good team in GWS the week before
Yes the swans have a lot of injuries, but so do we
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The same way other clubs have done it - with good recruiting, good development, good coaching & a united club actually working hard for best practice in each & every facet. We have not had that at all over the last 20 years & that has ensured our position of constantly finishing in no mans land. Look at what Richmond & Melbourne did to go from decades of failure to GF glory.
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I didnt know their was that much time left on the clock was too busy watching the last qrt that it shocked me when the siren went haha
It was 28 degrees 70% humidity.
Every team says it’s energy sapping and takes a week or two to properly recover.
Not to mention the longest flight home.
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