I kind of agree with portions of the posts above, but not all. Some points I either don't agree with or am just not sure what is being said.
It can't somehow be determinative if a player was part of a premiership, even relatively recently. Best you can say about that is that there's a greater likelihood maybe, of the player being able to perform under premiership pressure, as they've been there before. But obviously as time goes on from that point, a variety of factors can mean a particular player is no longer in the best 22 RFC can put out there. So for example, Townsend, Butler, Ellis, Graham, maybe even Rioli, (but let's see on that last one) are unlikely to be in our best 22, if a full list were somehow available.
Rance and Jack were/are HUGE outs, really obviously. Both are undeniable champions and would be a major hole in any club's list, if unavailable. I think we can cover the loss of Rance more than Jack, given the talent we have. But he's still a major loss, even so.
I KIND of get this skilled point, but am not sure how valid it is ulimately. The way we play at full pitch is chaotic, so we might tend to miss a bit more than others, as a result. I mean if everything is flying around the place in the forward line, misses are more likely to occur, don't you think?
At the same time these 'skilled' players listed... From all we've seen to date, Stack is an out and out cracker of a player - find of the year it looks like. Baker has been very good, but even now you just wonder if he just MIGHT be a bit small, at some point. Balta is a young colt who plays like one - we don't know how good he'll be yet. Higgins is not as impactful as he seemed to be before, but again who knows. This could be...second year blue stuff, or worst case, he came in as an unusually highly trained footballer, so shone early but may not have as much upside in the end. Bolton, would be the least convincing of all, in terms of everything we've seen so far at AFL level. His defensive efforts have improved, but he's not a 'cruncher'. His offensive work can be streaky/flashy, even if during those times he can be brilliant. I'm also not sure if he's 'smart' enough, which encompasses team play, split second best options, and so on. Compare him in that respect, with Stack say - maybe not completely fair, due to position differences.
I'm not saying any one of them is not 'skilled', they are. But I'm not sure what that means in the end. Naish for example is 'skilled' but query still if he could stand up in AFL. All I mean is, I'm not sure that skilled necessarily means a winning team. A guy can be less skilled, but a winner. Depends on the role, etc.
We NEED an elite ruckman, most of all. That is the most obvious difference between us and the better teams. Okay yea Geelong don't have one, but we do need one, even so. I don't mean to replace Nank, I mean to add to him. Also more midfield strength. Lynch needs time with Jack, also. A LOT of time, so it's all 'second nature'. And the rest of the team with both of them, same deal.
As for Friday, well the odds say we are underdogs, and we are. But we can win, and IF we win, I'd say it says a lot about our prospects at the end of the season, with players back.
We can only wait and see. It we lose it's not the end of the season, right then and there, although it's harder, sure.
