Same old same old

[E Shed]

I am firm believer that you dont not improve dramatically by playing against those of the same or lesser skill. You improve my playing against people who are ten times better than yourself because you have to.

Damm straight. I remember posters at the start of this year saying Morabito should earn his stripes in the WAFL. I posted at the time that he needed to learn the caper in the bigtime. We didn't draft him to play in the 2's. Love the way he finished the year off. That goal against Hawthorn was one of they years highlights.

 

[Dr Ralph Dagg]

Freo' have thankfully come a long way because of the Schwabolly era. Great to reflect back and seen positive changes made to our club.

Very harsh. We were a basket case prior to the Schwab/Connolly era and clearly weren't able to look after an AFL club.

When Connolly arrived we were broke and he had no money for recruitment or anything. He had to get and sell the club which he did brilliantly. We needed some improvement quick and they did that trading for Croad and Farmer. We got that quick succes and then some money.

You have to remember that Phil Smart was running recruitment on the smell of an oily rag compared to the cousins up the road who were rolling in it. And if you doubt Smart's record look at other clubs and/or our rookie list sucess.

The issue for Smart is he never got to put his picks forward and they were usually late on the draft particularly for 2004. I think trading for Josh Carr for 3 picks was the watershed we never recovered from.

But the real issue is Connolly didn't bring players on and wasn't able to develop a team. Medhust was the perfect example. He was a 50 goal a year forward and he got completely stuffed around. Mundy improved little by little but not like has has the last two seasons.

Reports I heard was that he was arrogant, refused to listen to advice and made everything more complex than it ought to be. He didn't listen to the advice of his advisors and everything was done his way.

So we never got a decent team. We had plenty of good players. But particularly the midfield of Carr-Carr-Hasleby-Bell-Schammer-Crowley-Pavlich-Cook was too slow and probably too small and not particularly skillfull. Even then Hase and Bell were AA in 2003 -- then what happened?

I reckon at the end of the day Connolly's results reflected Connolly's ability as a coach. It wasn't the players, or the recruitment or anything else but Connolly.

so like almost every coach, he was ultimately a failure but he and Schwab set the foundation for where we are now.

 

[Clay Davis]

Very harsh. We were a basket case prior to the Schwab/Connolly era and clearly weren't able to look after an AFL club.

When Connolly arrived we were broke and he had no money for recruitment or anything. He had to get and sell the club which he did brilliantly. We needed some improvement quick and they did that trading for Croad and Farmer. We got that quick succes and then some money.

If what they did was so necessary, then why didn't they follow the same template when they went over to Melbourne?

Melbourne were in as big a hole, if not bigger - massive debt, falling memberships, low crowds, poor performances.

Yet instead of chasing the big trade, they went to the draft. Obviously, they learned it was the wrong option to chase the trade.

Similarly, how does Trent Croad boost crowds and memberships, when Tony Modra (who retired in 2001) can't?

 

[mess]

Similarly, how does Trent Croad boost crowds and memberships, when Tony Modra (who retired in 2001) can't?

Coz Trent Croad's awesome.