Simon Garlick in 2021Was that the former CEO?
Anyway, every club aims to play finals, prelims etc. Frankly I would have more upset if he'd come out and said 'our aim is to struggle in the bottom 3 for the next 5 years'.
But let's be realistic - we had 2 players in their first game this week, and our 2 KPFs are 20 and 21. That's not a 'normal' Premiership formula. My guess is we won't be a seriously scarry forward line until Amiss, Treacy and Simson hit 100-150 games (and we add a couple more). And, we all know you have to be a top 4 scoring team to win a Premiership.
Fremantle unveil Strategic Plan for 2021 to 2025
The Fremantle Football Club is proud to unveil its Strategic Plan for the 2021 to 2025 period
www.fremantlefc.com.au
I'm not naive enough to hold him to this exactly - a premiership takes more than words, but I applaud him for his ambitiousness and directive.
What I want from this club statement is sustained, consistent, high-level performance, so in my eyes consistent top 6 finishes minimum and consistent performances. My concern is that in 2022 we started the journey the CEO would be happy with (we were all happy with), but then last year really fell away. This year I actually don't know what we are or where we are - time will tell if the Derby was an abomination or if we're still the same old inconsistent Freo. Even this weekend will be a strong measure of us. History shows us Fremantle teams have a good win, then lose the expected win the following week. We'll get a good indication of things this weekend. If we're as good as we think and as good as the CEO tells us we should be, this week should be a solid performance and a 30+ point win (though i'll be happy with any winning margin).
We can make all the reasons/excuses we want; injury/age/list turnover etc. but all I know is since this Strategic Plan was announced, the numbers will show we've been very inconsistent, which is quite far away from what it takes to win a flag.
As for the youth you speak of - I agree with you whole heartedly, however JLo just this pre-season clearly stated age will not be an excuse; https://thewest.com.au/sport/afl/yo...-tag-with-nowhere-to-hide-for-2024-c-12797512
We need to be careful with the age of our list and just expecting us to get better as the list matures - by the time our forwards and mids are at peak age, Pearce, Fyfe, Ryan etc will be past it and those guys are currently some of our key pillars.