You can actually watch a few of our games from that era on YouTube. We were a fun side to watch when we were on but just no consistency. Our best players would look like stars one week, then do **** all the next. Don't think they took training seriously enough.
Dunno they had Danger, Sloane, Thompson. Plus a real gun front 6 and then Talia, Hartigan and Lever.
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Robbo has talked about the situation with our facilities back then and it's no wonder we struggled, apparently Chris Judd visited Junction Oval and once he saw our set up he turned right off coming to us. Robbo did also say that one of the reasons the ex players are such a tight unit now, with the whatspp thread and everything, is because of how rough the club was at the time, and how it's banded them together, amazing to see where we are now.
Fitting given the farce that was Junction Oval.
Weren’t they kicked out of the finals in 2013 and Carlton in 9th played (and won lol)
Some genuinely disappointing years there. We just weren’t good enough when the whips were cracking against quality non-Vic opponents away from home. Yet, we would also have these inexplicable losses to shit sides like Carlton x 2 in 2006, Freo at the G in 2005 and so on which would ultimately cost us top 4. We were capable of some really good footy but didn’t have the consistent top line players or ahead of the curve tactics to carry us to glory.
2006 was a funny one starting 0-3 including two losses to Carlton and Adelaide in ‘home’ games at Docklands and GC because of the Commonwealth games, and then losing to Carlton there again later in the year. Beat the Swans at the SCG but lost to them in Melbourne, finally won a home game at the Gabba as Brisbae started to slide, etc. Real missed opportunity in some ways but unless we finished top 2 we were never a chance that year, which is indicative of how far off we were needing everything to go perfectly. The current system is much more sustainable and resilient - or at least I hope it is.
We were definitely 1-2 top liners short in the backline. Rivers, Bizzell and even Carroll in small doses played decent footy and Doggy Brown and Wrecker Whelan were good smalls. But we really lacked a gorilla tamer - Nicholson, Ferguson and Lamb were all shit, still mind boggling how many games Nicho played.
They had a shitload of soft tissue injuries in the back half of 2012. The kind that happen after a team bulks up too much in one off-season.
Yep, thanks I meant to mention this as well.
It’s the scale of those six consecutive losses in 2005 which gets to me. 15, 74, 72, 35, 88, 54. It’s a bit like our implosion in 2011 in that it was just belting after belting - except in 2005 we were top 2 before this happened.
I still maintain that Lamb should have been given more of a go, showed at least some potential.
