Unforeseen circumstances and marque players

Billyc

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 17, 2009
8,348
24,533
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Fingers remain crossed for Sicily but let’s be honest, that looked terrible and the noises coming out of the club suggest we prepare for the worst.

A lot has been discussed about our failed recruiting strategy since the glory years but little is made of the shocking run we have had with our very best players over the last 5-6 years, which has really derailed the whole thing.

Query - with hindsight - whether we should have pivoted earlier but we have had a terrible run to our best players.

1. Just as Roughead was becoming our marque player and next captain as Hodge/Mitchell started to age, he is struck down with with life threatening cancer. Bravely returned but never the same player.

2. Cyril becomes our marque player. Retires out of the blue at 27. We have not recovered from this.

3. Tom Mitchell becomes our best player. Wins Brownlow. Gets us into finals and then destroys his leg pre season and misses full season. Still finding his way again.

4. Impey leading our B&F in 2019. Does a knee. Misses a year and still finding his way.

5. Sicily becomes our leading player. By far our best this year and in my view emerging as next years captain. Now possibly gone for a year.

“Rebuilding” is hard enough without constantly losing your best players (the guys you build lists around) to very serious injuries

There are others who we have knowingly taken after serious injuries who have never become the players they were pre injury (JOM, Scully, Paton). That’s a different story as we knew that risk but it’s been compounded by the blokes above, none of which could ever have been predicted and which have had a major impact on where we have ended up.

Been some seriously terrible luck
 
Last edited:

Billyc

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 17, 2009
8,348
24,533
AFL Club
Hawthorn
They do, but not constantly to marque players. The above has derailed our attempts to get back to the top.

With hindsight I think we have been trying to steady a sinking ship since Cyril left. That was the moment to pivot
 
Oct 3, 2006
2,294
7,480
Manchester
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
EPL
Fingers remain crossed for Sicily but let’s be honest, that looked terrible and the noises coming out of the club suggest we prepare for the worst.

A lot has been discussed about our failed recruiting strategy since the glory years but little is made of the shocking run of extremely serious injuries to our best players, which has really derailed the whole thing.

Query - with hindsight - whether we should have pivoted earlier but we have had a terrible run to our best players.

1. Just as Roughead was becoming our marque player and next captain as Hodge/Mitchell started to age, he is struck down with with life threatening cancer. Bravely returned but never the same player.

2. Cyril becomes our marque player. Retires out of the blue at 27. We have not recovered from this.

3. Tom Mitchell becomes our best player. Wins Brownlow. Gets us into finals and then destroys his leg pre season and misses full season. Still finding his way again.

4. Impey leading our B&F in 2019. Does a knee. Misses a year and still finding his way.

5. Sicily becomes our leading player. By far our best this year and in my view emerging as next years captain. Now possibly gone for a year.

“Rebuilding” is hard enough without constantly losing your best players (the guys you build lists around) to very serious injuries

There are others who we have knowingly taken after serious injuries who have never become the players they were pre injury (JOM, Scully, Paton). That’s a different story as we knew that risk but it’s been compounded by the blokes above who have unexpectedly suffered serious.

Been some seriously terrible luck


I've been thinking about this for a while. Yes all clubs have them but we have has some really terrible career ending ones which has affected the club dramatically. Adding to the above:

1. Trent Croad. For mine Croad was our best CHB since Chris Mew. Was only 190cm but played like he was 198. Once he came back from Freo and found his niche in the backline everything finally clicked and he just dominated. His career ended in the 2008 GF at age 27 or 28? We have since struggled to find a player even remotely close to Croad, absolutely killed us. Could have played in another GF or two

2. Max Bailey. Again for mine, Bailey had all the tools, smarts and athleticism to become our greatest ruckman ever. Signs early were very positive but tragically destroyed by the 3 knee recos. To prove how could have been, his performance against Sandilands in the 2013 GF was phenominal. Could barely train that year and had his knee drained of fluid weekly. Not ashamed to say that I shed a tear after he did his knee against Essendon for the third time. He was absolutely dominating and when he went down you just knew it was an ACL. This is easily the lowest point of my football life, ten times worse than loosing a GF

3. Xavier Ellis. Bit iffy putting Ellis in as its common knowledge that his off field prep was well short of professional. Have a good source that in his school years, Ellis had little interest in doing the extra work in the gym or on the track. Many say that injury never allowed him to reach his full potential but personally I believe that his poor work ethic and attitude is related to his ongoing injuries. Still tragic as he had brilliant football mind and terrific left boot

4. Tom Boyle. Not a high draft pick but turned quite a few heads early in his career and could have been anything. Broke his leg in a practise match after taking what many had described as a an absolute screamer. Recovered from the horrific break to form a formidible forward line with Franklin and Roughead. Further injuries and finally an ACL prematurely ended such a promising career at around age 28

5. Rick Ladson. Drafted same year as Hodge (pick 16) and blew everyone away in his first pre season. Copped some serious injuries early and eventually played in a winning GF. Further injuries though seemed to curtail his development and his career was over by age 27 which was way too young.

6. Jonathon Hay. We all know the story. Fortnunately for the club we netted some brilliant picks for Hay but sadly his career and personal life went into freefall after a brief stint at North Melbourne

7. Lance Piccione. This guy could really player (initially a first round pick with Adelaide) Showed glimpses of his talent every now and then but wildly inconsistent. We now know that he suffered from really bad depression and mental health issues which never allowed him to fulfill his potential

Is it a curse, no but bloody hell we have some hard luck stories. Fingers crossed for Sicily...
 

4THAWN

Club Legend
Mar 25, 2019
2,548
2,833
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Another one (this is definitely a stretch)

2018 Qualifying Final vs Richmond - Felt like we were definitely in the game, until somewhere in the 3rd? quarter where Stratts does his hammy, essentially ending our season. Not only this, but since this injury Stratton was never the same player, the contrast between his 2018 form and 2019 form alarming. I'm not going to sit here and say the injury is the reason for Stratts decline, but it really is night/day the difference between pre-hamstring Stratton and post-hamstring Stratton.
 
I've been thinking about this for a while. Yes all clubs have them but we have has some really terrible career ending ones which has affected the club dramatically. Adding to the above:

1. Trent Croad. For mine Croad was our best CHB since Chris Mew. Was only 190cm but played like he was 198. Once he came back from Freo and found his niche in the backline everything finally clicked and he just dominated. His career ended in the 2008 GF at age 27 or 28? We have since struggled to find a player even remotely close to Croad, absolutely killed us. Could have played in another GF or two

2. Max Bailey. Again for mine, Bailey had all the tools, smarts and athleticism to become our greatest ruckman ever. Signs early were very positive but tragically destroyed by the 3 knee recos. To prove how could have been, his performance against Sandilands in the 2013 GF was phenominal. Could barely train that year and had his knee drained of fluid weekly. Not ashamed to say that I shed a tear after he did his knee against Essendon for the third time. He was absolutely dominating and when he went down you just knew it was an ACL. This is easily the lowest point of my football life, ten times worse than loosing a GF

3. Xavier Ellis. Bit iffy putting Ellis in as its common knowledge that his off field prep was well short of professional. Have a good source that in his school years, Ellis had little interest in doing the extra work in the gym or on the track. Many say that injury never allowed him to reach his full potential but personally I believe that his poor work ethic and attitude is related to his ongoing injuries. Still tragic as he had brilliant football mind and terrific left boot

4. Tom Boyle. Not a high draft pick but turned quite a few heads early in his career and could have been anything. Broke his leg in a practise match after taking what many had described as a an absolute screamer. Recovered from the horrific break to form a formidible forward line with Franklin and Roughead. Further injuries and finally an ACL prematurely ended such a promising career at around age 28

5. Rick Ladson. Drafted same year as Hodge (pick 16) and blew everyone away in his first pre season. Copped some serious injuries early and eventually played in a winning GF. Further injuries though seemed to curtail his development and his career was over by age 27 which was way too young.

6. Jonathon Hay. We all know the story. Fortnunately for the club we netted some brilliant picks for Hay but sadly his career and personal life went into freefall after a brief stint at North Melbourne

7. Lance Piccione. This guy could really player (initially a first round pick with Adelaide) Showed glimpses of his talent every now and then but wildly inconsistent. We now know that he suffered from really bad depression and mental health issues which never allowed him to fulfill his potential

Is it a curse, no but bloody hell we have some hard luck stories. Fingers crossed for Sicily...
To leave out Beau Muston & Beau Dowler, just doesn't do them justice. Beau Muston, in particular, should be a 3-4 timer & probs still playing...

Another not mentioned is Cyril Rioli - sure, he saw the 4x cups, but walked away long before he was due...

Tim Boyle... ouch - I really, really liked him. And Birchall, obviously...

But then we picked up Spangher cheaply because he was always injured. :shrug:
 

thejockey

Club Legend
Apr 5, 2015
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keilor
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Cyril is the big one . We are still struggling and recovering from that .
When you have such an elite player retire still with years on a contract , well it leaves a huge hole that you simple cannot fill.
Put him in our side now and several issues get fixed . Totally understand him retiring though.
 

detox

Premiership Player
Nov 26, 2007
3,140
4,035
Melbourne
AFL Club
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To leave out Beau Muston & Beau Dowler, just doesn't do them justice. Beau Muston, in particular, should be a 3-4 timer & probs still playing...

Another not mentioned is Cyril Rioli - sure, he saw the 4x cups, but walked away long before he was due...

Tim Boyle... ouch - I really, really liked him. And Birchall, obviously...

But then we picked up Spangher cheaply because he was always injured. :shrug:
Mustons ball drop was a freefall from nipple height.
 
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