Now I am making a massive assumption here as Clarkson could do something left of field and want to stay in Melbourne so that would mean he could go to North Melbourne or something like that but right now I think GWS and Gold Coast are both looking likely to need a new coach at the end of the season, GWS definitely and Gold Coast likely, and lets be honest, if Clarkson wanted to go to Gold Coast then that would happen even if Gold Coast don't have a bad year as such.
Now both GWS and Gold Coast have a lot in common. Both expansion clubs, GC17 and WS18, both clubs having been given huge concessions when they joined the competition though both going down different routes, Gold Coast going for experience youth in there and GWS going almost exclusively for youth. Everyone was saying how both clubs would win 2 or 3 premierships each with the amount of concessions they got but neither of those things happened.
Gold Coast never made the top 8 and had serious cultural problems early on, with the god squad on one side and the party drug group on the other. They relied way too much on Gary Ablett Jnr who was a great player but a pretty crappy captain and they have never made the 8 in the time they have been in the competition, them now onto their 3rd rebuild and have in their history had a lot of trouble retaining players, though that seems to be getting better of late.
GWS though has made the 8, and they have made the 8 quite a bit but they also have huge retention issues, issues that unlike Gold Coast they have not seemed to have solved. They have paid huge money to keep some players like Kelly, Coniglio, Taranto and Greene, likely more money than they are worth and as a result their list is imbalanced. They lose players constantly because they can't afford to keep them since a few of their players are taking up so much of their cap. They are also a team that no matter how high on the ladder they got never felt like they played like a cohesive team. They could look amazing on their day but they had no ability what so ever to grind out wins when things were not going their way. They always played like a team of individuals rather than an actual team and even on their best years I got the sense they should be doing a lot better than they actually were with the list they had.
So with all that out of the way you are Alastair Clarkson and you want to go to one of these two clubs, and your primary desire is to go there and win a premeriship. Which club do you think has the better list in terms of building towards a premiership, one that has the building blocks that Clarkson would be looking for when making his decision?
Now both GWS and Gold Coast have a lot in common. Both expansion clubs, GC17 and WS18, both clubs having been given huge concessions when they joined the competition though both going down different routes, Gold Coast going for experience youth in there and GWS going almost exclusively for youth. Everyone was saying how both clubs would win 2 or 3 premierships each with the amount of concessions they got but neither of those things happened.
Gold Coast never made the top 8 and had serious cultural problems early on, with the god squad on one side and the party drug group on the other. They relied way too much on Gary Ablett Jnr who was a great player but a pretty crappy captain and they have never made the 8 in the time they have been in the competition, them now onto their 3rd rebuild and have in their history had a lot of trouble retaining players, though that seems to be getting better of late.
GWS though has made the 8, and they have made the 8 quite a bit but they also have huge retention issues, issues that unlike Gold Coast they have not seemed to have solved. They have paid huge money to keep some players like Kelly, Coniglio, Taranto and Greene, likely more money than they are worth and as a result their list is imbalanced. They lose players constantly because they can't afford to keep them since a few of their players are taking up so much of their cap. They are also a team that no matter how high on the ladder they got never felt like they played like a cohesive team. They could look amazing on their day but they had no ability what so ever to grind out wins when things were not going their way. They always played like a team of individuals rather than an actual team and even on their best years I got the sense they should be doing a lot better than they actually were with the list they had.
So with all that out of the way you are Alastair Clarkson and you want to go to one of these two clubs, and your primary desire is to go there and win a premeriship. Which club do you think has the better list in terms of building towards a premiership, one that has the building blocks that Clarkson would be looking for when making his decision?
