Thanks for your quality posts in this thread Phanto. After yesterday's insipid post-halftime performance it is hard to see the long term gains that are being made, but as you widely point out, they are there.
The final two or three players from the 2003 period who need to be moved on will be moved on this year and the club's off-field situation is vastly, vastly imprived.
People who pont the finger at Miller are several years late. Miller, as Phantom rightly points out, is a different entity to the one from that period that was doing too much, today he has much broader and deeper footballing expertise around him. It's a much different (and superior) situation.
I didn't believe we would make the finals this year but I am confident that we will make the finals next year. In 12 months time, a side that contains Cotchin, Collins, Riewoldt, Edwards (yes, I know struggling a bit just now), Connors, Foley, Lids, Morton, King, Moore, Bling, Newman, White and maybe Rance is a positive to look forward to.