Opinion Is our window closing?

[TKiL]

It will probably end up being the reality of this period of time. What hurts about 2018 is the 5 goal lead. We were not the best team of that year by any means but well into the first Q 5 up and you are odds on favs. That hurt.

and kicked 1st 2 goals of last quarter - mental toughness, resilience should have kicked in big time then

 

[Leviathan Pie]

If Sidey and Pendles were going backwards I think most would agree. Pendles could easily have 2-3 years left and Sidey 4-5.
That gives adequate time to find/develop quality replacements for them.
Why are you pointing out a fwd line without JDG - do you think he’s leaving or are you suggesting he’ll need to play permanently in the midfield?

2-3 years at current output for Pendlebury and 4-5 years for Sidebottom is seriously stretching - I feel like you just disagree for the sake of it sometimes.

Jordan is our best forward, and I would without question play him there permanently. But is he reliable enough both on-field and off to be counted on moving forward...I don't know. I certainly hope that he is.

 

[No SPIN]

2-3 years at current output for Pendlebury and 4-5 years for Sidebottom is seriously stretching - I feel like you just disagree for the sake of it sometimes.

Jordan is our best forward, and I would without question play him there permanently. But is he reliable enough both on-field and off to be counted on moving forward...I don't know. I certainly hope that he is.

LP - it’s not in my nature to disagree for the sake of it.
Burgyone 37 - played in the midfield till a couple of years ago
Ablett- 37 - playing Full time midfield till around 34, and even now does mid/fwd split.
M. Murphy 33
Higgins - 32
The later 2 have at least 2 years in them, and Pendles is supposedly very conscious of looking after his body.
So I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Pendles could play 2-3 years based on the above. Similarly Sidey to finish around the same age which is 4-5 years away.

 

[BringouttheGimp]

LP - it’s not in my nature to disagree for the sake of it.
Burgyone 37 - played in the midfield till a couple of years ago
Ablett- 37 - playing Full time midfield till around 34, and even now does mid/fwd split.
M. Murphy 33
Higgins - 32
The later 2 have at least 2 years in them, and Pendles is supposedly very conscious of looking after his body.
So I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Pendles could play 2-3 years based on the above. Similarly Sidey to finish around the same age which is 4-5 years away.

 

[No SPIN]

View attachment 928703

That’s exactly what I’ve giving you the last few days - “ but you can’t handle the truth”

 

[Leviathan Pie]

LP - it’s not in my nature to disagree for the sake of it.
Burgyone 37 - played in the midfield till a couple of years ago
Ablett- 37 - playing Full time midfield till around 34, and even now does mid/fwd split.
M. Murphy 33
Higgins - 32
The later 2 have at least 2 years in them, and Pendles is supposedly very conscious of looking after his body.
So I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Pendles could play 2-3 years based on the above. Similarly Sidey to finish around the same age which is 4-5 years away.

They might play on, and at a decent level. But they aren't going to be improving from this point on.

Also you can't just 'replace' these guys. We've seen both Adams & Treloar unable to find their mark in both those players absence. As it relates to the closing of the window, and the OP, its a genuine concern.

There's a common theme with all 4 of the players listed above. They aren't in any side competing for a Premiership at this point (Ablett last year aside).

 

[BringouttheGimp]

That’s exactly what I’ve giving you the last few days - “ but you can’t handle the truth”

You've been drinking honey wine.. fizzy lifting drinks?

 

[gouki88]

LP - it’s not in my nature to disagree for the sake of it.
Burgyone 37 - played in the midfield till a couple of years ago
Ablett- 37 - playing Full time midfield till around 34, and even now does mid/fwd split.
M. Murphy 33
Higgins - 32
The later 2 have at least 2 years in them, and Pendles is supposedly very conscious of looking after his body.
So I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Pendles could play 2-3 years based on the above. Similarly Sidey to finish around the same age which is 4-5 years away.

In agreement with you here. I think the strides made in allowing longevity for players is catching lots off guard. Still so many people write footy players off at 30

 

[Big Bryza]

we effectively had a pagans paddock in 2018, we still set up for it but opposition now leave a defensive line behind the play and don't follow the forwards to deep up the ground.
This makes it hard for our fwds to try burn them back to goal, basically they concede the kick from the def 50m arc to the half way mark and look to turn it back over from there protecting their back 50 and goals. Combined with how deep into def half our fwds are going it slows our transition and there is no space for smalls and medium marking forwards to get the space to be effective.

We caught most teams off guard in 2018 and overall we were underestimated by opposition sides.

You're right now in the fact that opposition sides will just hold their last line of defence, knowing that unless we beat sides out the back to kick goals, we are going to struggle to score at all.

 

[caloschwaby]

I see our 2018 season as equivalent to 2007, only difference being we lost the GF by 5 rather than the Prelim :S

We had a 5 year window then to get stuff done, just a single flag would make all the heartbreak worthwhile, don't see why we don't have that same timespan (injury gods-providing) especially with the revelation of some of our younger stars ala Quaynor

 

[lethalburns]

Who knows anymore.

After we lost to Hawthorn in Round 2 of 2018 I thought we had the worst list in the AFL and I couldn't believe the faith Buckley had in Mason Cox.

I can't decide if it's gameplan, covid, players, leadership, culture or other. All of the above?

Right now we are clearly down across the board so its hard to gauge how bad/good we are.