tico said:
i think we have paid our dues in a weird sort of way as supporters, we do deserve success.
Don't I know it. But if you sit back and look at it objectively You can see what he is up to.
2002 brought in a couple of "stars" in Croad & Farmer plus a few GOP's.
Picked up a squad with an all time low confidence level enough to win some home games (including a couple of big scalps) but it was enough to get the ball rolling and start getting us out of debt.
2003 Helped by a good draw we won all our home games and a few away against non contenders (although the win against the Roos at the MCG was ahighlight to me).
This continued putting us back in the black financially.
At the same time Swabby & CC were pensioning off players who would play no part in the long term future and getting the Salary Cap back in order.
At the end of 2003 we invested heavily in youth (Dunn . Murphy , Mundy , Campbell Peake & Johnson) that would have no imediate input and could be left to develop in the WAFL unlike Pav , Hase , JLo Etc who I beleive are still a bit shellshocked through being thrown in the deep end to early and too often.
We are just seeing the very start of some of that 2003 talent for the future coming good.
2004 We recruited a couple of hard nosed premiership players (Schofield was a bit of a mystery to me ) and Heath Black back to help give some more guidence to the young fellows.
We then had a concentrated effort to turn our pathetic away record around which finished up in the top 3 (only just behind Port & Brisbane) in the AFL.
All the time we have been investing heavily in the Rookie draft turn some rough diamonds into good players to bolster the depth of our list which for the first time in our history we actually have some depth.
What sort of state would we have been in even last year missing the amount of players that we have been so far this year?
When you consider where we have come from & where we are now He has done a remarkable job especially since we have been bottom four in the football department stakes down with the Roo's & Bulldogs.
It would be a hell shame to shoot ourselves in the foot by being frustrated (and I get as frustrated as anyone) at the lack of instant gratification.
As a footnote I doubt if any experienced Coach would take the job as it is without doubt the worst Coaching job in the AFL.