An open letter to the Brisbane Lions AFC
I am a long time supporter of the Lions, a Victorian, an ex Roy who stuck it out and had his first fond memory of his amalgamated team, when they defeated the Blues in a Qualifying final in the late 90's.
I've seen the good times, as we were regarded as one of the greatest teams of the modern era and I've watched that greatness slowly decay over the past decade into the rot that has beset our club. I've seen false dawns based on young players who we expected to become stars (see Todd Banfield, Rhan Hooper & Matt Moody) & I've seen us make a play to squeeze one last premiership out of our ageing stars (The Fevolution). However I've never quite felt the way that I feel today.
I feel tired. I feel exhausted.
The 60 point beltings that have been occurring far too frequently over the past 3 years. As a fan, it takes a toll when every week, you have an expected outcome - every week the final margin will lie somewhere between 40 & 90 points and make no doubt about it. We will be on the wrong side of that margin.
We tell fans to Get to The Gabba - but if the club ask them to turn up, then all the fans ask is that the players turn up too. After our past few years, no wonder we must think of novel ways to attract new members.
Each pre-season, I gather hope that things will start to turn. Maybe Daniel Rich will take the next step and become a consistent performer? Maybe Tom Cutler will have a breakout year and establish himself as a young star? Maybe one of these talented draftees will make a real difference (Schache, Keays, Hipwood & Mathieson).
But alas by Round 6, I can stop bothering with the win loss column and hope that they play the kids and we see some development of our players.
That in itself is the saddest part, rather than taking an interest in the results, I hope that we will remain near the foot of the ladder. A bye team for those who play us. Hoping that another season of rubbish football may deliver us a talented young footballer who will help steer the ship back up the ladder.
Make no mistake, we are at the level of Melbourne in 2011. Cannon fodder for whichever team we face.
Where to start on the debacle that is our football club.
The list. A shambled assortment of underperforming senior players, unfulfilled potential & a scattering of talented youngsters.
We have 7 senior players who are at an AFL standard. Rockliff, Bastinac, Zorko, Martin, D.Beams, Hanley & Christensen. Thank god for Zorko this season, he is well & truly our Nathan Jones. The only player who is giving a Yelp in our annus horribilis.
Consider the following list of senior players.
Lester, Bell, Harwood, Robinson, Bewick, Walker, C.Beams, Merrett, Green & Rich. Some are less talented, but possess more determination & will. And some are the other way around. They have all been in the AFL system long enough - our football club has failed some of these players and some of these players have failed themselves. These are the players we need to be relying on for leadership & consistent strong performance. However they are sorely lacking in both departments. They are the rotting guts of our football club's on field performance. Players who have been getting a game on promise for far too long and rarely delivering.
The youth. The one thing that us fans regularly champion. But just how good is it? How many of these young players can we say are destined for stardom. Maybe 2?
Schache & Andrews.
Outside of the above, we do have young talent, but nowhere near the level of some of the rising stars scattered throughout the competition. The forward line looks close to set, with Freeman & Schache holding down the key posts. The backline also looks set to grow, Andrews, McStay & Hipwood all looking like long term prospects. I see the plan - build the spine first & add the midfield later. It's nice to have a plan, especially after those years in the wilderness between 09 & 13. Maybe I'll take solace in that.
So where do we look to next. The draft. The academy continues to bear fruit, Allison, Watson & Rolls with Ballenden to come in 2017. Sad isn't it, that us fans have to hang their hopes on the prospects to come. That we spend more time researching the under 18 Queensland team than we do paying attention to our team losing another fixture. A focus on a draft a mere 18 months in the future & players that are at least 5 years away from being capable senior footballers.
The coach. Favourite son turned coach delivers unfavourable results. Where have I heard that before?
Can he actually coach? I don't know. And we won't find out. In 18 months, we will be spruiking a new senior coach. The club will roll out the token line - really impressed in his interviews & experience etc etc. However, he too will be doomed by the poor playing list that he inherits. People continue make comparisons to how Carlton & the Bulldogs have turned it around so quickly with new coaches. Remember their playing lists are significantly difference to ours, featuring either talented youngsters or senior AFL players who are close to elite. Melbourne is our blueprint and we have many years of pain to come.
The gameplan. Is the gameplan good? Again, I don't know. What I do know is that we do not have the skill to execute it. Too often we turn the ball over. By hand or by foot. Basic skill execution. It leaves our defenders out of position and embarrassed as opposition players walk into open goals. State league players have higher skill execution than some of our players. Our players that are full time footballers. It's not to much to ask for them to hit a stationary target 20 metres away under no pressure, or maybe it is.
Now we turn our focus to the club itself.
Facilities that are comparable to a local football club in Victoria. Tick.
Crippling debt. Tick.
Ongoing welfare issues resulting in 6 (soon to be 7) players walking out on the club. Tick.
We have known about these issues for a long period of time, yet they still remain. I do understand that we are making progress, however it's quite difficult to swallow that none of these issues have been rectified over the past 5 years.
I am tired of the rotting corpse of the Brisbane Lions football club. The club makes media releases on how improvement is just around the corner. The reality is that the mistakes won't go away overnight. We will keep making them and we will keep losing by 60 points. There is no quick fix for an inexperienced list that is jam packed full of list cloggers & turnover merchants.
We will be in hospital on a drip for many years to come, a change of coach won't change anything. New facilities and new faces will help. Ultimately time will be our healer.
Whether I can stomach that wait is another question altogether.
I am a long time supporter of the Lions, a Victorian, an ex Roy who stuck it out and had his first fond memory of his amalgamated team, when they defeated the Blues in a Qualifying final in the late 90's.
I've seen the good times, as we were regarded as one of the greatest teams of the modern era and I've watched that greatness slowly decay over the past decade into the rot that has beset our club. I've seen false dawns based on young players who we expected to become stars (see Todd Banfield, Rhan Hooper & Matt Moody) & I've seen us make a play to squeeze one last premiership out of our ageing stars (The Fevolution). However I've never quite felt the way that I feel today.
I feel tired. I feel exhausted.
The 60 point beltings that have been occurring far too frequently over the past 3 years. As a fan, it takes a toll when every week, you have an expected outcome - every week the final margin will lie somewhere between 40 & 90 points and make no doubt about it. We will be on the wrong side of that margin.
We tell fans to Get to The Gabba - but if the club ask them to turn up, then all the fans ask is that the players turn up too. After our past few years, no wonder we must think of novel ways to attract new members.
Each pre-season, I gather hope that things will start to turn. Maybe Daniel Rich will take the next step and become a consistent performer? Maybe Tom Cutler will have a breakout year and establish himself as a young star? Maybe one of these talented draftees will make a real difference (Schache, Keays, Hipwood & Mathieson).
But alas by Round 6, I can stop bothering with the win loss column and hope that they play the kids and we see some development of our players.
That in itself is the saddest part, rather than taking an interest in the results, I hope that we will remain near the foot of the ladder. A bye team for those who play us. Hoping that another season of rubbish football may deliver us a talented young footballer who will help steer the ship back up the ladder.
Make no mistake, we are at the level of Melbourne in 2011. Cannon fodder for whichever team we face.
Where to start on the debacle that is our football club.
The list. A shambled assortment of underperforming senior players, unfulfilled potential & a scattering of talented youngsters.
We have 7 senior players who are at an AFL standard. Rockliff, Bastinac, Zorko, Martin, D.Beams, Hanley & Christensen. Thank god for Zorko this season, he is well & truly our Nathan Jones. The only player who is giving a Yelp in our annus horribilis.
Consider the following list of senior players.
Lester, Bell, Harwood, Robinson, Bewick, Walker, C.Beams, Merrett, Green & Rich. Some are less talented, but possess more determination & will. And some are the other way around. They have all been in the AFL system long enough - our football club has failed some of these players and some of these players have failed themselves. These are the players we need to be relying on for leadership & consistent strong performance. However they are sorely lacking in both departments. They are the rotting guts of our football club's on field performance. Players who have been getting a game on promise for far too long and rarely delivering.
The youth. The one thing that us fans regularly champion. But just how good is it? How many of these young players can we say are destined for stardom. Maybe 2?
Schache & Andrews.
Outside of the above, we do have young talent, but nowhere near the level of some of the rising stars scattered throughout the competition. The forward line looks close to set, with Freeman & Schache holding down the key posts. The backline also looks set to grow, Andrews, McStay & Hipwood all looking like long term prospects. I see the plan - build the spine first & add the midfield later. It's nice to have a plan, especially after those years in the wilderness between 09 & 13. Maybe I'll take solace in that.
So where do we look to next. The draft. The academy continues to bear fruit, Allison, Watson & Rolls with Ballenden to come in 2017. Sad isn't it, that us fans have to hang their hopes on the prospects to come. That we spend more time researching the under 18 Queensland team than we do paying attention to our team losing another fixture. A focus on a draft a mere 18 months in the future & players that are at least 5 years away from being capable senior footballers.
The coach. Favourite son turned coach delivers unfavourable results. Where have I heard that before?
Can he actually coach? I don't know. And we won't find out. In 18 months, we will be spruiking a new senior coach. The club will roll out the token line - really impressed in his interviews & experience etc etc. However, he too will be doomed by the poor playing list that he inherits. People continue make comparisons to how Carlton & the Bulldogs have turned it around so quickly with new coaches. Remember their playing lists are significantly difference to ours, featuring either talented youngsters or senior AFL players who are close to elite. Melbourne is our blueprint and we have many years of pain to come.
The gameplan. Is the gameplan good? Again, I don't know. What I do know is that we do not have the skill to execute it. Too often we turn the ball over. By hand or by foot. Basic skill execution. It leaves our defenders out of position and embarrassed as opposition players walk into open goals. State league players have higher skill execution than some of our players. Our players that are full time footballers. It's not to much to ask for them to hit a stationary target 20 metres away under no pressure, or maybe it is.
Now we turn our focus to the club itself.
Facilities that are comparable to a local football club in Victoria. Tick.
Crippling debt. Tick.
Ongoing welfare issues resulting in 6 (soon to be 7) players walking out on the club. Tick.
We have known about these issues for a long period of time, yet they still remain. I do understand that we are making progress, however it's quite difficult to swallow that none of these issues have been rectified over the past 5 years.
I am tired of the rotting corpse of the Brisbane Lions football club. The club makes media releases on how improvement is just around the corner. The reality is that the mistakes won't go away overnight. We will keep making them and we will keep losing by 60 points. There is no quick fix for an inexperienced list that is jam packed full of list cloggers & turnover merchants.
We will be in hospital on a drip for many years to come, a change of coach won't change anything. New facilities and new faces will help. Ultimately time will be our healer.
Whether I can stomach that wait is another question altogether.
