Opinion The Bubble Of Excellence

[Fossie 32]

Played golf in Upper Beaconsfield in 1983 many of my friends lost their houses and almost their lives they just
made it too the dam on the course and I mean just.

Someone rang 3AW this afternoon and said they escaped by getting into a dam on a golf course - maybe the same place?

 

[Fossie 32]

Three unique measures of greatness:

Firstly the "Ching", an award voted upon by great people, with almost no visible bias.

1- Bontempelli
2- Macrae
3- Dunkley
4- Daniel
5- Crozier
6- Liberatore
7- Naughton
8- Hunter
9- Wood
10- English

Secondly the "Brownlow", an award voted upon by umpires, who wear various bright outfits to be anonymous.

1- Bontempelli (Equal with Macrae, but more 3 Votes)
2- Macrae
3- Dunkley
4- Naughton
5- Hunter
6- Daniel
7- Wallis
8- Dale
9- Johannisen
10- Schache

Thirdly the "Best and Fairest or B&F", an award ruled by bias and personal interest.

1- Bontempelli
2- Dunkley
3- Macrae
4- Johannisen (WCIHS)
5- Daniel
6- Hunter
7- Wood
8- Naughton
9- Lloyd
10- Crozier

Well to relate this back to the "Bubble Of Excellence" it is clear no matter the award everyone respects the
enormous sea of ability that is the "Bubble Of Excellence" no matter the origin of the votes or their bias
or questionable validity. I did not include the scores on purpose because it only helps show how very
dominant the "Bubble Of Excellence" really was, but that reliance is visible in most teams.

Here are my Ching votes. Skewed a bit as I missed voting in 7 rounds - mainly the depressing losses
Also a little Bonti skewed. And I noticed Trenners only got 3 Ching votes in the round where I gave him 5!

The Bont 50
Macrae 25
Crozier 21 [bubble burster]
Dunkley 19
Hunter 16 [bubbling under]
Naughton 16
Suckling 14
Daniel 12
Bailey D. 10
English 9
Libba 7
Lloyd 6
Smith 6
Trengove 5
Lipi 5
Wallis 4
McLean 4
Wood 3
Scache 3
Young 1
Morris 1
Cordy 1
Dickson 1

 

[Yojimbo]

Someone rang 3AW this afternoon and said they escaped by getting into a dam on a golf course - maybe the same place?

I don't listen to the radio, but yes it would have been the same place, multiple choices for who made the call
sadly.

 

[X_box_X]

Thought I'd have a crack at ranking our best 32 players. I haven't included first year players, but I'd have thought Weightman would easily make his way into this list if I did include them (hard to know where he'd fit).

1. Bontempelli
2. Macrae
3. Dunkley
4. Naughton
5. Johannisen
6. Hunter
7. Daniel
8. Crozier
9. Liberatore
10. Bruce
11. McLean
12. Keath
13. Wood
14. Lipinski
15. Lloyd
16. Dale
17. English
18. B Smith
19. Schache
20. Cordy
21. Suckling
22. Richards
23. Lewis Young
24. Dureya
25. Wallis
26. Dickson
27. Trengove
28. Williams
29. West
30. Jong
31. Hayes
32. Gowers

Wallis and Dickson are two who would comfortably be inside the top 20 if I was confident they'd have an injury free season. Liberatore could be top five if he had an injury free season, IMO.

 

[Yojimbo]

Thought I'd have a crack at ranking our best 32 players.

Difficult exercise X_box_X as I feel you must examine our methodology deeply in terms of scoring sources and
the physical capabilities necessary to enhance those scoring capabilities. Does the want to play a 7-7-4 type
system enhance your ability to score from repeat entries or does it result in a dominance in the part of the
ground that does not contain our goals. Does a lack of penetrating foot skills result in a safe ball movement
environment that results in a low clanger count which people may applaud, but is it a positive. Good teams
have gears and can win ugly and don't have to smother an opponent.

Maybe the real purpose of the "Bubble Of Excellence" is to say we have never had three more dominant
midfielders dating back to 1990, yet this is not where the improvement has to come from apart from
Bontempelli's set shots that is. Every team has to utilise the assets possessed by their players and the
brains trust has to morph a game plan that with subtle tweaks can counter a variety of game styles that
may be totally different. Teams plan heavily to beat Richmond, but do they plan to beat the Gold Coast
with as much gusto.

Nice list, sorry had the big brain breakfast this morning apparently.

 

[GoGeta]

I create bubbles of excellence in my bath but when they pop..

 

[Yojimbo]

I create bubbles of excellence in my bath but when they pop..

The "Bubble Of Excellence" should be a Geelong thread really when you consider the incredible voracity and
ground breaking talent of Dangerfield (27), Kelly (24), and Ablett (13) who beat the "Bubble" with a vote
total of 64, combine that with Geelong's lowest ever season for points conceded of just 1,462 in a season
since 1990 and we should have witnessed a Geelong premiership in 2019. Unfortunately Tom Hawkins was
also in the bath tub blowing fart bubbles instead of playing against Richmond and the injuries to the great
Mitch Duncan and Jordan Clark did not help the cause either.

It is incredible that since 2005 Geelong has played finals 13 of the 15 seasons and had an incredible 10 top
four finishes for 3 amazing premierships, that is a conversion rate of 3 from 10 times with the double
chance, it is really 10 top three finishes because technically you never finished fourth. If only Sydney did
not switch to your side of the finals draw in 2016 imagine the AFL giving them a final at ANZ stadium
against the GWS when they finished on top of the ladder that year and no longer played games at ANZ
stadium, but as Doris Day sang what ever will be will be. Keep on trucking.

 

[Yojimbo]

"Double The Bubble" (The teams we played twice in 2019):

Jackson Macrae:
Versus the GWS Giants- 71 Possessions
Versus the Geelong Cats- 63 Possessions
Versus the Carlton Blues- 61 Possessions
Versus the Brisbane Lions- 73 Possessions
Versus the Fremantle Dockers- 67 Possessions
Versus the Collingwood Magpies- 75 Possessions
Total = 410 Possessions from 12 games or 34.17 Per Game.


Joshua Dunkley:
Versus the GWS Giants- 51 Possessions
Versus the Geelong Cats- 48 Possessions
Versus the Carlton Blues- 56 Possessions
Versus the Brisbane Lions- 67 Possessions
Versus the Fremantle Dockers- 50 Possessions
Versus the Collingwood Magpies- 50 Possessions
Total = 322 Possessions from 12 games or 26.83 Per Game.


Marcus Bontempelli:
Versus the GWS Giants- 40 Possessions
Versus the Geelong Cats- 47 Possessions
Versus the Carlton Blues- 51 Possessions
Versus the Brisbane Lions- 61 Possessions
Versus the Fremantle Dockers- 50 Possessions
Versus the Collingwood Magpies- 66 Possessions
Total = 315 Possessions from 12 games or 26.25 Per Game.


Combined as "The Bubble Of Excellence":
Versus the GWS Giants- 40+71+51 = 162 Possessions or 27.00 Per Game
Versus the Geelong Cats- 47+63+48 = 158 Possessions or 26.33 Per Game
Versus the Carlton Blues- 51+61+56 = 168 Possessions or 28.00 Per Game
Versus the Brisbane Lions- 61+73+67 = 201 Possessions or 33.50 Per Game
Versus the Fremantle Dockers- 50+67+50 = 167 Possessions or 27.83 Per Game
Versus the Collingwood Magpies- 66+75+50 = 191 Possessions or 31.83 Per Game