Season is about to start. I put down some thoughts mainly for myself about our 2019 season.
Not exited about:
1. 14 new players. It will take time to integrate them into the team. It takes long time to build synergy, to know intuitively where teammates are, what will they do.
2. Lynch and May left. In their best form they are great players. On a positive note, Lynch gave us probably only 1 good game the last year and May had easily his worst season as far as I remember. Sometimes I even wished Leslie played instead of him last year.
3. The youngest team and least experienced team in competition. My counter argument is that my Suns best 35 average age is 23 years and 10 month which actually is not bad at all. After 35 we still got plenty of talent but yes it needs time to develop (Powell, Dawson, King,..).
4. I feel Martin and Brodie could depart us at season end. I hope I am wrong.
5. I have no issue with our defence (will miss Thompson) and forward line but can our new midfield stand up? On one hand I am excited to see new faces there - Fiorini, Bowes, Ainsworth, Martin. On the other hand it will take some time for them to gel and develop. Witts taping regularly to opposition is not an exciting prospect. If we get beaten in midfield it will be a long season again.
Looking forward to:
1. New mature players. Great characters, mature bodies providing depth, desperate for 2nd chance. Mature state leage players Collins, Burgess, Corbett look like a real deal. It would not surprise if we get two more at midseason draft.
2. Draftees. Great talent. People should go to games just to watch Rankine. Silky Lukosius is not bad either.
3. Core of young players 2-5 years in a system, who are committed and one can expect to improve in 2019. Wright, Bowes, Brodie, Ainsworth, Martin, Miller, Macpherson, Ah Chee, Weller, Fiorini, Ballard, Joyce, Powell and yes in my opinion Lemmens, Holman. Ballard and Powell impressed me in preseason already. Just hoping 3-4 guys will take it to another level and that Brodie will take his chance when it presents.
5. Contrary to outside opinion our mature core players are not bad at all, they are good soldiers. Hanley, Harbrow, Swallow, Witts, Day, Thompson, Sexton, Young, Miles, Hombsh. Unfortunately, Thompson is a big loss.
4. Lynch and May left. No distraction from non-commited s**t captains.
5. The whole club seems united and on the same page, no egos.
6. Normal schedule.
7. New coaches and development team. It should provide the best environment to develop players. Ultimately, all picks have potential to be good players, but we failed to develop them.
8. New performance and rehab teams. Can they lift the physical standard, limit injuries. If JLT games are any indication, it looks like we can run out games finally.
9. Additional resource to footy dept, academy.
10. Better stadium deal.
11. 2nd year under Dew in perfect facilities. Players know what to expect, should get better at knowing and executing the plan.
12. Considering that nobody gives us a chance, we will probably catch some teams off guard. The totally negative view from Melbourne should also help to galvanise our team.
The key is to have a reasonable run with injuries and that Rigby can improve team physically. Unfortunately, preseason was not too friendly to us on injury front. Only St Kilda and Fremantle are probably worse off. Thompson out for a year is a huge loss. I can live with Rankine/Lemmens missing first 6 games.
I expect Suns to hunt, pressure for much longer than the last year and no easy games for opposition at Metricon. I hope we will see positive signs big enough to attract a very good player or two next off season.
First 6 games are crucial. If we can win 2-3 games, it will give boys a lot of confidence.
Six wins for me.
Not exited about:
1. 14 new players. It will take time to integrate them into the team. It takes long time to build synergy, to know intuitively where teammates are, what will they do.
2. Lynch and May left. In their best form they are great players. On a positive note, Lynch gave us probably only 1 good game the last year and May had easily his worst season as far as I remember. Sometimes I even wished Leslie played instead of him last year.
3. The youngest team and least experienced team in competition. My counter argument is that my Suns best 35 average age is 23 years and 10 month which actually is not bad at all. After 35 we still got plenty of talent but yes it needs time to develop (Powell, Dawson, King,..).
4. I feel Martin and Brodie could depart us at season end. I hope I am wrong.
5. I have no issue with our defence (will miss Thompson) and forward line but can our new midfield stand up? On one hand I am excited to see new faces there - Fiorini, Bowes, Ainsworth, Martin. On the other hand it will take some time for them to gel and develop. Witts taping regularly to opposition is not an exciting prospect. If we get beaten in midfield it will be a long season again.
Looking forward to:
1. New mature players. Great characters, mature bodies providing depth, desperate for 2nd chance. Mature state leage players Collins, Burgess, Corbett look like a real deal. It would not surprise if we get two more at midseason draft.
2. Draftees. Great talent. People should go to games just to watch Rankine. Silky Lukosius is not bad either.
3. Core of young players 2-5 years in a system, who are committed and one can expect to improve in 2019. Wright, Bowes, Brodie, Ainsworth, Martin, Miller, Macpherson, Ah Chee, Weller, Fiorini, Ballard, Joyce, Powell and yes in my opinion Lemmens, Holman. Ballard and Powell impressed me in preseason already. Just hoping 3-4 guys will take it to another level and that Brodie will take his chance when it presents.
5. Contrary to outside opinion our mature core players are not bad at all, they are good soldiers. Hanley, Harbrow, Swallow, Witts, Day, Thompson, Sexton, Young, Miles, Hombsh. Unfortunately, Thompson is a big loss.
4. Lynch and May left. No distraction from non-commited s**t captains.
5. The whole club seems united and on the same page, no egos.
6. Normal schedule.
7. New coaches and development team. It should provide the best environment to develop players. Ultimately, all picks have potential to be good players, but we failed to develop them.
8. New performance and rehab teams. Can they lift the physical standard, limit injuries. If JLT games are any indication, it looks like we can run out games finally.
9. Additional resource to footy dept, academy.
10. Better stadium deal.
11. 2nd year under Dew in perfect facilities. Players know what to expect, should get better at knowing and executing the plan.
12. Considering that nobody gives us a chance, we will probably catch some teams off guard. The totally negative view from Melbourne should also help to galvanise our team.
The key is to have a reasonable run with injuries and that Rigby can improve team physically. Unfortunately, preseason was not too friendly to us on injury front. Only St Kilda and Fremantle are probably worse off. Thompson out for a year is a huge loss. I can live with Rankine/Lemmens missing first 6 games.
I expect Suns to hunt, pressure for much longer than the last year and no easy games for opposition at Metricon. I hope we will see positive signs big enough to attract a very good player or two next off season.
First 6 games are crucial. If we can win 2-3 games, it will give boys a lot of confidence.
Six wins for me.
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