Was it worth it?

[Saintly35]

Why? Another way of putting the same question is "Was going for it between 2014-16 always doomed and misguided? Should we have put the cue in the rack sooner? Or was it worth putting together as serious a contender as we could with our constraints and limitations?".

But that's too long for a thread title.

Because only an idiot would have supported putting the cue in the rack considering we appeared to be building each prior year.

We had to push on to try and maximize an aging list which had built together with a younger core over quite some time based on reaching success.

The question is not whether going for a flag was "worth it", but rather "did we maximize the recent finals period despite it not bringing a flag"?

The former is nonsense, the latter is harder and more important to answer. Which is where I suspect we agree to disagree.

 

[utility]

To be honest, if you look at where we were a decade ago with the wolves at the door - to have won five memorable finals, essentially be debt free, and have an exciting young list in new facilities then it was worth it.

Yes, it may feel like a wasted decade because we didn't play in a GF, but we are a stronger club.

 

[Kimbo]

Why? Another way of putting the same question is "Was going for it between 2014-16 always doomed and misguided? Should we have put the cue in the rack sooner? Or was it worth putting together as serious a contender as we could with our constraints and limitations?".

But that's too long for a thread title.

I'm assuming the "right question" is "Why haven't we sacked Scotts?"

 

[Istanbul Roo]

The Doggies are the exception.

We won as many finals as the Dockers between 2012-2016, and Lyon can't walk down the street without a double page thinkpiece about his pulsating football brian. Richmond, Essendon, Melbourne, St Kilda, Carlton, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Collingwood have nocturnal emissions about playing in a final; we won 4.

It feels like Im arguing that the period was a success; and I kind of am.

I think it was more a success than a failure, which means BS is a coach who has coached us to success, but not to the ultimate success.
In other words we've done better than most clubs in the comp, but some three or four - Hawthorn, Sydney, Geelong, and Doggies - have done even better. Collingwood, Fremantle and WC have all made (and lost) GFs in that time.
Not that its the only criteria, but apart from the Dogs (which shows how good their win was last year) all those other clubs are financial powerhouses.

 

[Kimbo]

I think it was more a success than a failure, which means BS is a coach who has coached us to success, but not to the ultimate success.

And here was me, thinking it's "success" or "failure".

 

[Mattdougie]

I thought that too but then the Doggies just made us look like fools last year. Considering they started their rebuild two years after ours. And changed coach. And lost their captain. **** they won a flag with 3 spuds if I ever come across more talentless footballers in my life.
What set us back was really more often that not players could just rock up and know they were getting a game cause they were good blokes and the coach was a good bloke. How many mediocre performances did it take to jolt the team back into its groove.
100 point loss to StKilda, 100 points loss to Collingwood, 100 point loss to Hawthorn, etc. The Gold Coast loss in 2015. We almost always waited till s**t hit the fan and then we became serious.
Dogs showed last year that excuses mean utensil.

May I asked who those 3 spuds were in your opinion?

 

[Bont2Bruce]

For a well liked post ^ I'm still trying to understand how "if Smith kicks straight" the Dogs don't even play a Prelim final. Or Hawks probably win 4 straight.

Makes no sense at all on how the finals played out, especially in the context made of us using bad luck as an excuse (which I agree it has contributed) in prior years and 'having a crack'.

I'm guessing here, but Geelong was the only team we didn't defeat at some stage during 2016.

If Geelong had lost the QF due to Smith kicking a goal after the siren, then they would have played us in the SF.

The inference I believe from there is that the Dogs wouldn't have progressed to the PF in that scenario.

 

[Saintly35]

I'm guessing here, but Geelong was the only team we didn't defeat at some stage during 2016.

If Geelong had lost the QF due to Smith kicking a goal after the siren, then they would have played us in the SF.

The inference I believe from there is that the Dogs wouldn't have progressed to the PF in that scenario.

Cheers for that. I knew Smith missed but couldn't work out the following conclusions made.

Some very long bows drawn then....ha. Very fanciful though in reality.

 

[shintemaster]

I'm guessing here, but Geelong was the only team we didn't defeat at some stage during 2016.

If Geelong had lost the QF due to Smith kicking a goal after the siren, then they would have played us in the SF.

The inference I believe from there is that the Dogs wouldn't have progressed to the PF in that scenario.

It's possible I guess. A bit like how Essendon won the Grand Final in '99, even though they didn't actually play it but were totally definitely a lock to win that game they didn't make cos they were complete pus the week before.

 

[danj]

Look the last 7 years have been like going to the Tender Touch with Art Cloke (and 350 of his best friends) week after week on a promise of leaving sated and satisfied but walking away with nothing but sore balls and a sour taste in your mouth, I seriously reckon you would look as pissed as this guy too after seven years of that

 

[CrazyQ]

Look the last 7 years have been like going to the Tender Touch with Art Cloke (and 350 of his best friends) week after week on a promise of leaving sated and satisfied but walking away with nothing but sore balls and a sour taste in your mouth, I seriously reckon you would look as pissed as this guy too after seven years of that

Wtf.

 

[LETSGOKANGAS]

Absolutely. The comeback against the *cheats made me proud to be a long time member of this magnificent club.

What a night!

I wanted to boof Sammy Wright when he took "THE INTERCEPT' mark.

The next morning was my first father's day.

Big breakfast, kid on my lap and the herald sun write up.

Oh so tasty.

 

[Shermanator]

The next morning was my first father's day.

Big breakfast, kid on my lap and the herald sun write up.

Oh so tasty.

Magnificent

 

[tazaa]

May I asked who those 3 spuds were in your opinion?

Hamling, Roberts and Cordy.

 

[amaz199]

Was it worth it? Oath it was.

Beat the cheats.
Beat the 9ths.
Beat the Cats.
Beat the Swans at home.

Am I happy that the club is taking this direction? Yes.

Am I mad that we didn't make the big dance in 2016? Yes.

Am I mad we didn't win against the Ducks in 2015? Oath I am. Still can't believe Jacobs was penalised for HTB and Swallow had been knocked out only to realise it was legal according to the umpires.

Going up against a potent Swans forward line in 2014 with Grima on Tippet, Thommo on Franklin and Spud on Goodes. We were so screwed but were powerless. Didn't have replacements or depth. Which brings me to my next point.

We never really prepared for the worst during 2012-15. We had a crack but had a very risky crack that ultimately decided where we were heading as astrovic pointed out.

We never had the personnel or back-ups to rotate players or rest some. We kept getting FA players and kept looking for players that would get us to the top (or near it) but NEVER thought about the future at the same time. We concentrated continually on one thing and forgot about the rest.

Brad didn't play many young players and persisted with the older-comfortable players that were great blokes. This, along with the club's financial position, made us vulnerable to a catastrophe. Which happened last year since we never tried to save ourselves. This is why the Dogs won. They got the personnel to maintain a good standard in ALL areas and had the depth. FFS they had less time to rebuild. WTF.

Our depth was ultimately s**t and cost us more than we initially thought. How much did we rely on Tarrant last year? (We were sweating on every injury scare FFS) How much did we miss Wells? How much are we going to miss Boomer?

Brad Scott needed to take action in 2013 and 2014 and didn't. Those two years were crucial to the club. And we did FA.

But, we got success eventually. At the cost of another rebuild. Maybe I'm over-analysing but I think we took action too late. We waited and waited and made ourselves look like villains. AFL media makes a fuss and we cop it like we did 10 years ago. It was a slippery slope and we fell off at the end.

 

[danj]

Wtf.

Might have missed the zeitgeist but I was trying to explain the look on the face of our new logo in the context of the thread. Too soon?