I'm thinking long term, rather than the 'Pagan styled quick fix' approach... which we all known doesn't work. I'd rather we build for a Premiership team that can win multiple rather than a strong finals contender who is always there abouts (Collingwood) but rarely win.
I love fev like all of us but I want our club to remain strong for a long period of time rather than make a Grand Final only to be beaten by that other team, whom may have taken longer to build than us, but had the better team at the end of the day because they made those tough calls years ago, ala Hawthorn.
I'm a realist and we still have a ways to go. Our backline needs time to develop and so too our rucks. Realistically, do you think the players in our best 22 now will be the calibre of Geelongs 2007 team in 2-3 years time?
It's all good sticking up for our club and players but there comes a time when we need to take off the navy blue glasses and compare ourselves against the best, which ultimately is what we all want the Blues to be.
Did you attend the Round 2, 2004 clash between Carlton & Geelong? That was the day when a team of AFL journeyman (Carlton) spanked Geelong by 54 points (the Geelong team contained 11 players who would be members of the 2007 premiership team), a week after St Kilda had spanked them by 61 points. If you did attend that game, after leaving the ground that day, did you for a moment think the same team that had just been humiliated by 2003's 15th placed team would, 3 years later, dominate the home & away season & then win a GF by 119 points? Particularly after a further 3 weeks which saw Geelong sitting on 1 win & 4 losses, with some supporters trying to put together an alternative board & getting the knives out for 'Bomber' Thompson.
I am not saying Carlton will emulate Geelong's effort in 2007, but it doesn't take all that long for a talented group of players to become successful, on the back of some confidence & self belief.
Hawthorn are another example of a team that quickly turned it around. From Round 6 - Round 18, 2006, Hawthorn won only 1 game. That equates to 12 losses out of 13, yet just over a year later they were playing finals. Almost overnight, players like Sewell, Roughead, Campbell, Taylor, Lewis, Ladson, Young etc gained some confidence & self belief & here we are less than 2 years later & everyone is talking up the Round 17 clash between Geelong & Hawthorn as the biggest clash of the season. I don't think even the most one-eyed Hawthorn supporter would have seen this coming.