At the end of the day I'm just hoping that the loss of a large amount of top end talent condensed into two players is equalled or beaten by an improvement across the bottom half of the list through increased experience and an introduction of some new young talent.
There's no reason why it can't happen. I'm certainly not suggesting finals or anything crazy but I think I'll be disappointed if we go backwards. I'd like us to finish one or two places higher on the ladder, hopefully remove the blowout games from season 2018 (no more PTA, GEE or SYD rd 23), maybe pinch an extra 2 to 4 wins.
An extra uninterrupted *touch wood* preseason into the younger guys Cripps, Charlie, Samo, Fisher, Willo, Pickett, Plow, Marchbank, Weitbot, Cuningham, Byrne, Jack, McKay, kerr, Polson, LeBois
The introduction of Kennedy, Lang, Garlett, Dow, O'Brien, Shaw, O'Shea, Mullett, Schumacher, Lobbe, TDK, and McDaid replacing and in nearly every case an improvement on Gibbs, Armfield, Boekhorst, Buckley, Gorringe, Jaksch, Palmer, Smedts, Sumner, White, Gallucci, Sheehan and Korcheck.
Murph should be feeling confident coming off his best season in a while. Old Man Simpson will be feeling young and sprightly after his international rules performances. Liam Jones will probably tear into this preseason like never before after his career resurrection. MK-Ultra should be feeling buoyant on making the AA squad and largely being injury free for the last 2 years.
Ed will work his ass off when fit, like he always does. Guys who've been in the system for a while like Wright, Casboult, ASOS, Thomas, Rowe, Kerridge, Graham, Lamb and Phillips are going to have to really push themselves to either maintain their positions or try and get selected. I imagine O'Shea, Mullett, Shaw and Lobbe will believe they have something to prove and try and go the extra mile.
It all should add up to a pretty good environment for growth and improvement. There's frequent references to Bolton telling players to back themselves and play to their strengths and it appears to be generating a good deal of confidence amongst the group.
Yeah, Gibbs and Doc are about the two biggest outs we can imagine, but I'm backing club's ability to cover them across the 22. And then some.
There's no reason why it can't happen. I'm certainly not suggesting finals or anything crazy but I think I'll be disappointed if we go backwards. I'd like us to finish one or two places higher on the ladder, hopefully remove the blowout games from season 2018 (no more PTA, GEE or SYD rd 23), maybe pinch an extra 2 to 4 wins.
An extra uninterrupted *touch wood* preseason into the younger guys Cripps, Charlie, Samo, Fisher, Willo, Pickett, Plow, Marchbank, Weitbot, Cuningham, Byrne, Jack, McKay, kerr, Polson, LeBois
The introduction of Kennedy, Lang, Garlett, Dow, O'Brien, Shaw, O'Shea, Mullett, Schumacher, Lobbe, TDK, and McDaid replacing and in nearly every case an improvement on Gibbs, Armfield, Boekhorst, Buckley, Gorringe, Jaksch, Palmer, Smedts, Sumner, White, Gallucci, Sheehan and Korcheck.
Murph should be feeling confident coming off his best season in a while. Old Man Simpson will be feeling young and sprightly after his international rules performances. Liam Jones will probably tear into this preseason like never before after his career resurrection. MK-Ultra should be feeling buoyant on making the AA squad and largely being injury free for the last 2 years.
Ed will work his ass off when fit, like he always does. Guys who've been in the system for a while like Wright, Casboult, ASOS, Thomas, Rowe, Kerridge, Graham, Lamb and Phillips are going to have to really push themselves to either maintain their positions or try and get selected. I imagine O'Shea, Mullett, Shaw and Lobbe will believe they have something to prove and try and go the extra mile.
It all should add up to a pretty good environment for growth and improvement. There's frequent references to Bolton telling players to back themselves and play to their strengths and it appears to be generating a good deal of confidence amongst the group.
Yeah, Gibbs and Doc are about the two biggest outs we can imagine, but I'm backing club's ability to cover them across the 22. And then some.