donaldknuth
Debutant
- Jul 4, 2020
- 75
- 124
- AFL Club
- Western Bulldogs
I mean, sure, it's easy to say he's only just taken over an already struggling team, but people seem to forget that Fremantle has been rebuilding for a good 3-4 years now. People have been giving Nicks flack for Adelaide's performances, but he's inherited an old team that only just started rebuilding after spending two years trying to recapture their 2017 form.
Longmuir has inherited a wide array of highly touted youth like Andrew Brayshaw, Adam Cerra, Darcy Tucker, Griffin Logue, among some quality experience like Fyfe, Walters, Hogan, yet Fremantle look like a bonafide bottom 2 side.
To further highlight the benefits of inheriting a rebuilding side, let's rewind back to the end of 2014 with my team, the Bulldogs. Three years of Brendan McCartney, plenty of quality young talent, but seem to be going nowhere. Cooney, Higgins and Griffen leave, McCartney gets sacked, and all of the media is now tipping us for the spoon. Enter Luke Beveridge: we proceed to make the finals in 2015, then win the flag in 2016.
Taking that into account, shouldn't we be expecting more from Longmuir at the Dockers, considering how much talent he has available? Sure, maybe it's unreasonable to expect them to replicate the Bulldogs, but so far it looks like they've gone even further backwards than they were under Lyon.
What's going on? Am I underestimating how difficult it is to de-Lyon a team? Or is Longmuir getting something badly wrong?
Longmuir has inherited a wide array of highly touted youth like Andrew Brayshaw, Adam Cerra, Darcy Tucker, Griffin Logue, among some quality experience like Fyfe, Walters, Hogan, yet Fremantle look like a bonafide bottom 2 side.
To further highlight the benefits of inheriting a rebuilding side, let's rewind back to the end of 2014 with my team, the Bulldogs. Three years of Brendan McCartney, plenty of quality young talent, but seem to be going nowhere. Cooney, Higgins and Griffen leave, McCartney gets sacked, and all of the media is now tipping us for the spoon. Enter Luke Beveridge: we proceed to make the finals in 2015, then win the flag in 2016.
Taking that into account, shouldn't we be expecting more from Longmuir at the Dockers, considering how much talent he has available? Sure, maybe it's unreasonable to expect them to replicate the Bulldogs, but so far it looks like they've gone even further backwards than they were under Lyon.
What's going on? Am I underestimating how difficult it is to de-Lyon a team? Or is Longmuir getting something badly wrong?