Now that I’ve got your attention 
Listening to NC’s post-match press conference on Saturday got me to thinking (about some pretty obvious things, I suppose, but there you go…)
1. NC was asked “where is the improvement going to come from next year?” He struggled with the reply, IMHO, and didn’t really say anything material, but meh, it’s a pretty hard question to answer in a post-match PC and probably a dumb question to ask in the first place, in that environment.
But it did prompt me to think (and I’d like to think this is NC’s thinking as well) - well, even if we turn over, say 6 players this year - unless there’s an absolute miracle pick in the draft the improvement in our performance next year must come from the 34 players who are still on the list from this year and that is where NC must focus his attention (in terms of success in 2007). And I think that’s part of what NC was trying to say in the PC.
Now that might seem like stating the obvious, and it’s the same for every club - but I just think it’s good that our coach is thinking in those terms and not about “who we’re going to draft” as the first stop in thinking about 2007.
2. And so onto the other subject - the good old “Adelaide is about to fall off a cliff, when the magic names Ricciuto, McLeod, Hart, Edwards and Goodwin no longer appear on the team sheet”. Is this true?
Well, it’s possible, of course. It’s possible if the development of the next generation falters. But let’s have a look at where we stand right now. And I mean to assess this not by the tired old “exactly which one of Richard Douglas, Scott Thompson and VB will turn out to be the next Roo” - it’s not a straight 1-1 player swap we’re talking about - and not by the quality of the players as such, but by how much we rely on them right now, and in particular how much we relied on them for our (nearly Grand Final appearance) performance in 2006.
And I stress that none of what I say below is meant to be a criticism of, or an insult towards, these champions of our club. Just an attempt to objectively assess of how much we actually rely on them (as opposed to in our minds ) right now/
Hart - Frankly I don’t think we relied on him much at all in 2006. He was good until his injury, but never as influential after that. Our defence is already, effectively, playing without Ben Hart, and playing well too. Strike Benny from the “what happens when...” list.
Bassett - Still key to our defence. One we need to replace.
Roo - Key player early in the year, lost a bit of touch / was injured later in the year. Probably won a couple of games for us up forward, but on the other hand he was substituting for players like Welsh who, if not injured, might have made the same contribution. Doesn’t really contribute to the midfield any more, that is now the domain of (mostly) the new generation. We are almost - almost - beyond relying on Roo for our success.
McLeod - Similar to Roo. Stiffy provides as much run off half back, Macca isn’t an integral part of the midfield - still a key player, of course, but not the lynchpin that he was once.
Edwards & Goodwin - Key players, still major contributors. We need to wean ourselves off them over the next 2 years.
Overall, I think we are showing some good signs of transitioning to the next generation. The importance of these older players to our current team, as of right now, is perhaps not as much as people might assume. There are of course no guarantees - but there is every prospect that we can successfully transition to a new generation, a team that is just as competitive as the 2006 team, without having to plummet down the ladder and take 4-5 years to “rebuild” as a genuine premiership chance.
Listening to NC’s post-match press conference on Saturday got me to thinking (about some pretty obvious things, I suppose, but there you go…)
1. NC was asked “where is the improvement going to come from next year?” He struggled with the reply, IMHO, and didn’t really say anything material, but meh, it’s a pretty hard question to answer in a post-match PC and probably a dumb question to ask in the first place, in that environment.
But it did prompt me to think (and I’d like to think this is NC’s thinking as well) - well, even if we turn over, say 6 players this year - unless there’s an absolute miracle pick in the draft the improvement in our performance next year must come from the 34 players who are still on the list from this year and that is where NC must focus his attention (in terms of success in 2007). And I think that’s part of what NC was trying to say in the PC.
Now that might seem like stating the obvious, and it’s the same for every club - but I just think it’s good that our coach is thinking in those terms and not about “who we’re going to draft” as the first stop in thinking about 2007.
2. And so onto the other subject - the good old “Adelaide is about to fall off a cliff, when the magic names Ricciuto, McLeod, Hart, Edwards and Goodwin no longer appear on the team sheet”. Is this true?
Well, it’s possible, of course. It’s possible if the development of the next generation falters. But let’s have a look at where we stand right now. And I mean to assess this not by the tired old “exactly which one of Richard Douglas, Scott Thompson and VB will turn out to be the next Roo” - it’s not a straight 1-1 player swap we’re talking about - and not by the quality of the players as such, but by how much we rely on them right now, and in particular how much we relied on them for our (nearly Grand Final appearance) performance in 2006.
And I stress that none of what I say below is meant to be a criticism of, or an insult towards, these champions of our club. Just an attempt to objectively assess of how much we actually rely on them (as opposed to in our minds
) right now/Hart - Frankly I don’t think we relied on him much at all in 2006. He was good until his injury, but never as influential after that. Our defence is already, effectively, playing without Ben Hart, and playing well too. Strike Benny from the “what happens when...” list.
Bassett - Still key to our defence. One we need to replace.
Roo - Key player early in the year, lost a bit of touch / was injured later in the year. Probably won a couple of games for us up forward, but on the other hand he was substituting for players like Welsh who, if not injured, might have made the same contribution. Doesn’t really contribute to the midfield any more, that is now the domain of (mostly) the new generation. We are almost - almost - beyond relying on Roo for our success.
McLeod - Similar to Roo. Stiffy provides as much run off half back, Macca isn’t an integral part of the midfield - still a key player, of course, but not the lynchpin that he was once.
Edwards & Goodwin - Key players, still major contributors. We need to wean ourselves off them over the next 2 years.
Overall, I think we are showing some good signs of transitioning to the next generation. The importance of these older players to our current team, as of right now, is perhaps not as much as people might assume. There are of course no guarantees - but there is every prospect that we can successfully transition to a new generation, a team that is just as competitive as the 2006 team, without having to plummet down the ladder and take 4-5 years to “rebuild” as a genuine premiership chance.
Aren't we on a roll tonight. Go MD
