- Sep 15, 2005
- 13,075
- 20,637
- AFL Club
- Geelong
And so another season comes to a close; another top 4 finish with little to show for it other than the world’s most pointless trophy: the McClelland.
A season that started so brightly, full of fresh promise, with uncluttered minds and dreams of September Special Edition Blu-rays.
So now we sit around wondering whether it is better to have hoped and lost than to have avoided the tyranny of hope all together.
Chris Scott, the winningest H&A AFL coach in the history of winning stuff, goes into the post-season sunset with a Finals record that would make a magpie cry, and an asterisk next to his 1xPremiership that would weigh as heavy as an obelisk.
I don’t begrudge the man a holiday.
Inevitable questions must be raised as to whether he is the man to steer Geelong to its next premiership - none of us want to endure another 44 year wait; I know I’d be pushing it to abide such a prolonged drought and would be more likely to be pushing up daisies. He did say we'd be better next year...
More learned and astute supporters than myself rightly point out that each dashed finals campaign features a unique set of mitigating factors...
Sadly, like the lowest-of-common-denominator supporters - the ‘just kick it long’ types - I can only identify one unifying factor in these blown top 4 opportunities, the man steering the ship, our own Captain Ahab.
The same man who point blank refuses to publicly acknowledge that the club has an issue with fronting up after a bye.
And it was that post-bye loss that set alarm bells screaming in the ears of many burnt supporters this year, too (once again).
I know it definitely sent a chill up my spine.
That Rd. 14 loss to the Power came only a fortnight after we’d blown tonight’s conqueror’s Richmond out of the water.
Like many, I am a man who once wished for *just one premiership* in his lifetime.
I was lucky enough to get it, and then two more into the bargain as well…and I could rationalise it all so much more easily if we hadn’t positioned ourselves so strongly on 5 separate occasions since 2011.
It’s hard to see it now, but there are some positives to take from the season… it is, however, very very easy to see the negatives;
Players who repeatedly wilt under finals pressure, year after year. Mark Blicavs had a terrible finals series again. He was woeful last night, his set shot on goal was damning. It's not funny Mark.
A coach who seems jittery and unfocused come September, pulling hero-selection moves, mounting ill-advised home-final campaigns at exactly the wrong time, trying to play mind games with the opposition when his own mind and those of his charges are scattered and skittish.
Glacial starts.
Ill-disciplined senior players.
Year after year.
In an effort to end on a somewhat brighter note, I will briefly list the positives as I see them:
1. Esava Ratugolea, Jordan Clark and Gryan Miers.
Who knows if we will retain these guys moving forward. I’ve said a few times that I wouldn’t be surprised if Miers never matches his efforts this season, too.
But all provided me with plenty of enjoyment this year.
Clark’s efforts when the rest of the team went completely off the rails post-bye were very good until injury, he was a beacon of hope for a few weeks there.
2 …. no, actually that was pretty much it.
Hawkins, Stewart, Kelly (bye bye) all had great seasons up until that damned bye, and then to one degree or another dropped off.
Joel Selwood played one last great final, in a season which marked an alarming decline in his output.
Dangerfield had moments of transcendence, other moments when he reminded me that even the far greater Gary Ablett sr couldn’t get the job done by himself.
His finals series was weird. Probably gave his all. Probably carrying some kind of niggle. Regardless, he went missing for large patches of each Finals game for some reason.
Our foreign legion of Zac Smith, Rhys Stanley, Scott Selwood, Lachie Henderson, Sam Menegola, Gary Rohan, Zac Tuohy, Luke Dahlhaus and whoever else I’ve not bothered to look up no longer bolster the team; they are the team; or at least they represent where we're at.
Where once we may have looked to top up with a player or two to augment Selwood, Taylor, Hawkins, now we’ve invested so heavily in so-so talent from other clubs that we find ourselves a million miles away from the so-called ‘Geelong way’ which reaped our flags - investment in the draft; growing a group of like-minded peers organically into a cohesive unit.
3 more years.
Yes, I know I wasn’t quite able to end on that somewhat brighter note.
A season that started so brightly, full of fresh promise, with uncluttered minds and dreams of September Special Edition Blu-rays.
So now we sit around wondering whether it is better to have hoped and lost than to have avoided the tyranny of hope all together.
Chris Scott, the winningest H&A AFL coach in the history of winning stuff, goes into the post-season sunset with a Finals record that would make a magpie cry, and an asterisk next to his 1xPremiership that would weigh as heavy as an obelisk.
I don’t begrudge the man a holiday.
Inevitable questions must be raised as to whether he is the man to steer Geelong to its next premiership - none of us want to endure another 44 year wait; I know I’d be pushing it to abide such a prolonged drought and would be more likely to be pushing up daisies. He did say we'd be better next year...
More learned and astute supporters than myself rightly point out that each dashed finals campaign features a unique set of mitigating factors...
Sadly, like the lowest-of-common-denominator supporters - the ‘just kick it long’ types - I can only identify one unifying factor in these blown top 4 opportunities, the man steering the ship, our own Captain Ahab.
The same man who point blank refuses to publicly acknowledge that the club has an issue with fronting up after a bye.
And it was that post-bye loss that set alarm bells screaming in the ears of many burnt supporters this year, too (once again).
I know it definitely sent a chill up my spine.
That Rd. 14 loss to the Power came only a fortnight after we’d blown tonight’s conqueror’s Richmond out of the water.
Like many, I am a man who once wished for *just one premiership* in his lifetime.
I was lucky enough to get it, and then two more into the bargain as well…and I could rationalise it all so much more easily if we hadn’t positioned ourselves so strongly on 5 separate occasions since 2011.
It’s hard to see it now, but there are some positives to take from the season… it is, however, very very easy to see the negatives;
Players who repeatedly wilt under finals pressure, year after year. Mark Blicavs had a terrible finals series again. He was woeful last night, his set shot on goal was damning. It's not funny Mark.
A coach who seems jittery and unfocused come September, pulling hero-selection moves, mounting ill-advised home-final campaigns at exactly the wrong time, trying to play mind games with the opposition when his own mind and those of his charges are scattered and skittish.
Glacial starts.
Ill-disciplined senior players.
Year after year.
In an effort to end on a somewhat brighter note, I will briefly list the positives as I see them:
1. Esava Ratugolea, Jordan Clark and Gryan Miers.
Who knows if we will retain these guys moving forward. I’ve said a few times that I wouldn’t be surprised if Miers never matches his efforts this season, too.
But all provided me with plenty of enjoyment this year.
Clark’s efforts when the rest of the team went completely off the rails post-bye were very good until injury, he was a beacon of hope for a few weeks there.
2 …. no, actually that was pretty much it.
Hawkins, Stewart, Kelly (bye bye) all had great seasons up until that damned bye, and then to one degree or another dropped off.
Joel Selwood played one last great final, in a season which marked an alarming decline in his output.
Dangerfield had moments of transcendence, other moments when he reminded me that even the far greater Gary Ablett sr couldn’t get the job done by himself.
His finals series was weird. Probably gave his all. Probably carrying some kind of niggle. Regardless, he went missing for large patches of each Finals game for some reason.
Our foreign legion of Zac Smith, Rhys Stanley, Scott Selwood, Lachie Henderson, Sam Menegola, Gary Rohan, Zac Tuohy, Luke Dahlhaus and whoever else I’ve not bothered to look up no longer bolster the team; they are the team; or at least they represent where we're at.
Where once we may have looked to top up with a player or two to augment Selwood, Taylor, Hawkins, now we’ve invested so heavily in so-so talent from other clubs that we find ourselves a million miles away from the so-called ‘Geelong way’ which reaped our flags - investment in the draft; growing a group of like-minded peers organically into a cohesive unit.
3 more years.
Yes, I know I wasn’t quite able to end on that somewhat brighter note.