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A premiership for Richo
- Thread starter Rosy
- Start date
This is a copy of one of my earlier posts on this subject - still holds true in my mind:
Call me crazy – it must be this time of year, what with the Christmas good cheer, the booze and the severe footy withdrawal symptoms kicking in – but I think that there just might be a small window of opportunity to sneak into a GF in 2007. The slimmest of chances before the nascent St Kilda / West Coast dynasties are fully formed – just hear me out before you throw the tomatoes.
A lot will have to go right:
- An appearance in the 2006 finals
- Avoidance of significant injuries
- Quantum improvement in players like Schulz, Rodan, Pattison, Meyer, Foley, Thursfield
- Commensurate improvement to 2005 (over both the next two years) in players like Hall, Pettifer, Tuck, Simmonds, Deledio and Tambling
- Maintenance in form of principal players Richardson, Brown, Gaspar, Johnson and Bowden (I would expect the serious decline in form due to age to commence in 2008 for these guys)
- A few surprises eg such as the sudden development of a Limbach, McGuane, Polo or White
But all of these things are possible.
So if the stars align and the Gods are appeased and these things do occur – the next most important ingredient will be our level of experience - how will it stack up? The following speculative team shows players with an approximate possible number of games in brackets after each name come finals time 2007.
FB: Hyde (86) Gaspar (255) Thursfield (46)
HB: Johnson (201) Hall (126) J. Bowden (232)
C: Newman (116) Coughlan (111) Tambling (52)
HF: Brown (207) Simmonds (166) Pettifer (99)
FF: Rodan (100) Richardson (256) Schulz (65)
R: Knobel (111) Deledio (62) Tuck (65)
INT: Pattison (42) Meyer (46) P. Bowden (90) Foley (46)
Average games per player: 117
Compare this team with the last Tiger team that made an impression in the finals – the 2001 side that got beaten by 68 points by Brisbane in the Preliminary Final – bracketed numbers indicate numbers of total games played prior to Prelim Final:
FB: Sziller (150) Gaspar (145) A. Kellaway (80)
HB: Cameron (174) Holland (111) Torney (95)
C: Tivendale(58) Knights (173) Chaffey (80)
HF: Rogers (159) Ottens (78) Bowden (105)
FF: Broderick (188) Richardson (143) Hilton (54)
R: Gale (182) Campbell (191) King (59)
INT: Fiora (20) Hall (17) D. Kellaway (157) Poyas (5)
Average games per player: 110
So, in terms of experience, the future 2007 team will hold up pretty well.
In terms of talent – an overall improvement too for the 2007 squad – there will be no flat out ‘duds’ such as Sziller, King, Poyas and Fiora. And better depth in terms of range of experience – there will be no one in the team with less than 40 games under their belts.
In terms of coaching, preparation and approach we will be miles ahead of the sort of non-existent game plan and match tactics prepared by the potato farmer.
So, in all seriousness, I’m punting on a GF appearance in 2007.
Now, tomatoes raised - fire away.
Some alterations to the listed side would be likely eg Raines / Hartigan for Thursfield (I don't think he 'll be up to speed next year) and Rodan is questionable - especially with the likelihood of Polo carving his niche. Hughes looks a good chance too. But these kids do not alter the numbers significantly.
Call me crazy – it must be this time of year, what with the Christmas good cheer, the booze and the severe footy withdrawal symptoms kicking in – but I think that there just might be a small window of opportunity to sneak into a GF in 2007. The slimmest of chances before the nascent St Kilda / West Coast dynasties are fully formed – just hear me out before you throw the tomatoes.
A lot will have to go right:
- An appearance in the 2006 finals
- Avoidance of significant injuries
- Quantum improvement in players like Schulz, Rodan, Pattison, Meyer, Foley, Thursfield
- Commensurate improvement to 2005 (over both the next two years) in players like Hall, Pettifer, Tuck, Simmonds, Deledio and Tambling
- Maintenance in form of principal players Richardson, Brown, Gaspar, Johnson and Bowden (I would expect the serious decline in form due to age to commence in 2008 for these guys)
- A few surprises eg such as the sudden development of a Limbach, McGuane, Polo or White
But all of these things are possible.
So if the stars align and the Gods are appeased and these things do occur – the next most important ingredient will be our level of experience - how will it stack up? The following speculative team shows players with an approximate possible number of games in brackets after each name come finals time 2007.
FB: Hyde (86) Gaspar (255) Thursfield (46)
HB: Johnson (201) Hall (126) J. Bowden (232)
C: Newman (116) Coughlan (111) Tambling (52)
HF: Brown (207) Simmonds (166) Pettifer (99)
FF: Rodan (100) Richardson (256) Schulz (65)
R: Knobel (111) Deledio (62) Tuck (65)
INT: Pattison (42) Meyer (46) P. Bowden (90) Foley (46)
Average games per player: 117
Compare this team with the last Tiger team that made an impression in the finals – the 2001 side that got beaten by 68 points by Brisbane in the Preliminary Final – bracketed numbers indicate numbers of total games played prior to Prelim Final:
FB: Sziller (150) Gaspar (145) A. Kellaway (80)
HB: Cameron (174) Holland (111) Torney (95)
C: Tivendale(58) Knights (173) Chaffey (80)
HF: Rogers (159) Ottens (78) Bowden (105)
FF: Broderick (188) Richardson (143) Hilton (54)
R: Gale (182) Campbell (191) King (59)
INT: Fiora (20) Hall (17) D. Kellaway (157) Poyas (5)
Average games per player: 110
So, in terms of experience, the future 2007 team will hold up pretty well.
In terms of talent – an overall improvement too for the 2007 squad – there will be no flat out ‘duds’ such as Sziller, King, Poyas and Fiora. And better depth in terms of range of experience – there will be no one in the team with less than 40 games under their belts.
In terms of coaching, preparation and approach we will be miles ahead of the sort of non-existent game plan and match tactics prepared by the potato farmer.
So, in all seriousness, I’m punting on a GF appearance in 2007.
Now, tomatoes raised - fire away.
Some alterations to the listed side would be likely eg Raines / Hartigan for Thursfield (I don't think he 'll be up to speed next year) and Rodan is questionable - especially with the likelihood of Polo carving his niche. Hughes looks a good chance too. But these kids do not alter the numbers significantly.
