Analysis Which season was better 2013 or 2014?

[possum8]

This year. Winning games and seeing incremental improvements whilst blooding young talent and learning a new gameplan. Also the mosquito fleet!

 

[John_Proctor]

This year. Potentially 3 less wins but...

- blooded so many kids
- overcame loss of go home 5
- ~10 total games from rich, leuie, staker, Moloney, McGrath (compared to 80+ last year)
- brown retired mid season

If you'd said the last 2 things to me pre season I'd have thought we'd win about 3 games.

The kids are the missing piece of our next premiership which didn't exist last year IMO. Starting to see what our team is in 2017 when we should be ready to really challenge for a flag with these boys.

 

[Dizzle]

Sure the Miracle will stay with me always but... Vossy got sacked in 2013. Worse than that was the way it went down.

That and I can see us looking back at 2014 as the Genesis of a pretty special era.

Injuries suck. But they happen every year. Finding the core of a team on the up in one draft is so very rare.

 

[whatboutbob]

2013 had higher highs, but 2014 has given me more hope for the future.

 

[Byrons Firen]

2013 had higher highs, but 2014 has given me more hope for the future.

Well said and I agree best to WesternRoyBoy

 

[dlanod]

2013 had higher highs, but 2014 has given me more hope for the future.

Well said. I'll take 2014 because it's the most recent year I saw a path back up the ladder.

I did at times in 2013 as well, but by the end of it (the GH5, all the post-season ****ery) I felt we were going to be stuck in the doldrums for quite some time to come.

Helps that I'm writing this after flogging Collingwood too.

 

[Albi_Mangler]

For me it is this year for sure.

2013 may have had more wins (10) and probably the best finish to a game I have ever seen (Miracle on Grass) but as a team we really only beat 2 top 8 sides (Geelong and Essendon) and had a much easier draw. We sacked our coach and club legend in a terrible fashion, lost players and the issues off season was the first time I felt like the club was a real basket case. Yes we almost made the finals but really that was only because of the AFL-ASADA ruling against Essendon.

This year started off slowly but in hindsight we played almost the entire top 8 in the first 9 rounds with pretty much a new coach/game style and team due to recruitment/injuries. We have only beaten 1 top 8 side so far (NM) but the second half of the year has seen periods of pure exhilaration in seeing the upside and potential for the future. The coach selection looks solid, and we have strengthened our club management adding Swann.

 

[POBT]

2013 had higher highs, but 2014 has given me more hope for the future.

Each week we're seeing blokes come into the side who look like they want to play for each other and for the club. We've seen good players become guns and ordinary players start to develop some consistency. We've seen teenagers take responsibility like 200 gamers and we've seen a spirit and camaraderie that, from the outside anyway, seems quite special.

We had the skeleton of a decent side last year - now I reckon we've got the heart and soul. Whether it is 1, 2 or 3 years away, I feel comfortable that we'll see a bright future unfold if we can keep this group together.

 

[POBT]

FWIW though, we're still in a fragile state and need to make every recruitment and development post a winner. We're getting closer to the end of careers of several best 22 types and will need to replace them at some point. I reckon we need at least one more golden draft / trade period to shore up our list.

 

[maroon and blue]

It's next season and the years after i'm looking forward to.

 

[Skoob]

This year, easily.
Last year, I was excited about Elliott Yeo.
This year we easily have cause to be excited about Taylor, Gardiner, Aish, Robertson, McStay, the list goes on.
Last year we had political turmoil that sailed so close to an all out revolt, where I could easily see members ready to march in protest and physical harm come to the Chairman.
Last year, whether you thought he was the right man or not, saw the disgusting sacking of the club's biggest legend.

The fantastic run of wins and near misses in the second half of last year is so tainted with contempt and littered with heartbreak, that only the game results matter, with little else to take away in terms of satisfaction.

 

[Lockie]

This season for me. Last season we had the wins but the unsettled issues with the board, Voss etc and the players leaving at the end of the year. This year things seems more hopeful, Browny has sadly retired but their is now hope and courage in the new players that have been blooded. Board seems settled, new CEO. I'm not expecting miracles with our team but feel a lot more confident in both on field and off field issues and see a team that seems to be player for their coach and enjoying being together. Happy to continue the journey with them and barrack my guts out.

 

[3KZ is Football]

In 2013 we were still on the way down. In 2014 there are clear signs we are on the way up. The new attacking style that I saw last night has really got me excited. It doesn't show up on the television but there were passages that really stood out where Zorko and Taylor ran 50+ metres to present and they were overlooked by the ball carrier who chose another option. Their response was to run harder to present the next option and in the two occasions I have in mind, both were then rewarded with a possession. This was SO encouraging. At the start of the year our run and spread was lousy, but last night it was just about elite. When the ball handling skills and disposal skills of some players improve a bit more, we will be a genuine top 8 side faster than I would have thought possible after the start of the year. Plenty of people have already singled out Martin for his game last night, but I want to single out Crisp for a special mention. He was great last night.

 

[Gibbo_88]

Last year. When the final siren for us went last year against Geelong, it was hard not to be excited about what could have been for the next season. The first 3 months of this season was 2 steps back and I hardly watched a game and now we look like we're close to where we were last year over the past few games.

 

[Sherrinator]

We got a couple of cheap wins last year too. The standard of the worst teams (and mid range teams) has improved this year. 7 wins is a good effort. Plus most of these wins were with an underage team.

 

[Big Lion]

2014. A whole heap of kids have got game time. We've unearthed a heap of talent. More of a positive vibe about the club this year too.

 

[mattesideburns]

This year's been better. We've gone backwards to go forwards but the future looks far brighter, on field and off.
Last year we were coming off a ten win season where we'd not lost to any team below us and managed two good wins over finalists (that West Coast win with Polks' torp!). Then came the NAB Cup win and every reason to expect to improve on 2012!
... until that loss to the Dogs in round one blew it all apart. After that, we scraped our way back to equal 2012's win total, but only played two decent four quarter efforts (v Essendon, then v Geelong under a different coach). A particular low point was the North loss, coming right after mid-week comments that we had to start beating the mid-table teams to prove ourselves. To me, none of this year's losses have been as disappointing as those two losses at Etihad last year. Even the Miracle on Grass had one half of atrocious football to make a miracle necessary.
This year started with lower expectations and the toughest draw in the league, on top of a trade period where we were held to ransom. To come out of the draft the way we have, then to produce some truly satisfying wins has been amazing. Yes, there have been low points but they've been more understandable.
Last year left me thinking "if only..." This year has given me a much more plausible kind of optimism.

 

[braddsey]

I enjoyed 2013 better than this year. The debacle at the end of the year was board driven and doesn't damage what happened on field.

I think this season has a bit of a golden glow at the back end of the season because after the first 5 rounds we were being tipped to go winless. Then we scraped in against St Kilda in NZ (who are now sitting bottom of the ladder). We then went winless until we scraped in against Carlton (which I listened to on the radio and was really excited).
Even the last 5 weeks we've beaten Gold Coast (a good win... but GC have completely fallen away in the back end of the season), Melbourne (joke), and Collingwood - who any team in the league should have beaten last weekend. No doubt we played well against Collingwood, but if they have a full fit side it could have been a totally different story. Meanwhile we got smashed by Adelaide.
I live in Europe... but after the start to the season this year I found myself checking the result before deciding to watch a replay. I've never done that in my life. If we get blown apart by Freo again, and don't show spirit against Geelong then the golden glow will be well and truly gone.

What I want for 2015 is to see us win as many games as we lose (or more!!) in the first half of the season. Sure we had a tough drawer so the AFL could give us a hand... but rather than come out and start behind and have to build from the bottom - I want to see us mixing it with the middle ladder teams from the beginning of the season...and no horrible blow outs early on like we've become used to.

 

[lukiuslion]

2014 by the stretch of the Flemington straight.. last year threw up some good game and memorable moments, but we hadn't undertaken a full scale re-generation and re-shaping of the list.

Last year I can re-call saying multiple times, its nice being generally competitive but this list isn't going to win a premiership.

Now I look across the list and all I See is potential.

This year we have ..

- Blooded a bunch of young players who at this stage look as if they have what it takes to make it.
- implemented a new game plan, a nice mix of defensive and attacking, comprising patients up the line
when required, the switch and if on offer - straight up the middle. All pinned down by a solid defensive approach.
- We have improved our depth and we have won 7 games whilst having had a horror run with injury
- We have ripped the bandaid off and we have moved on from the great man in a very encouraging fashion
- We appear to have unearthed some key forward talent
- Our terrible discipline issues of last year are all but gone, which indicates players are feeling less frustrated
- players and the message coming out of the club is the playing group are happy.

I can understand why other a seduced by finishing higher on the ladder and the 2-3 very exciting games from last year, but IMO this year has been so much better, and i am more confident than ever the Leppa is the right man for the job.

 

[Kevvo]

For me, 2014 then daylight.

Even the big wins last year were only so satisfying because we were getting creamed when our run started. To a point that is thrilling (agree that M.O.G. is the most excited I've ever been by a game of anything), but it's not the sort of thing that suggests a trajectory towards finals or better. Putting aside all of the off-field turmoil, I just think we're playing a really great style of game as this season wears on. I'm excited that we haven't played damage control, and I think it's a big part of why we've unearthed so many great kids. Yes, we drafted well, but I think their growth is also down to Leppa encouraging them to play fast attacking football.

Add to that the feeling that nearly every player on the list has improved this season, I'd take 2014 any day.

(I've just read it now, and the post above is spot on I think).

 

[BuntonRules]

Not just onfield & in the coaches box. We have rid ourselves of Agnes, got Leigh & Swanny on board, & have made the decision to revert to the one true lion.

The paddlepop era is over. 2014 by a country mile.

 

[cheekyLionsFan]

2013. We had Elliot Yeo

And another positive for 2014.. Lewis Taylor

 

[brizrider]

I'm really excited about where the team is going. We do need to keep recruiting and developing well for a couple of years more yet but the base that is being laid at the moment in terms of personnel and playing style feels more solid to me than it has for many years.

 

[Panthera]

2014 by a fair margin

Love Leppa's gameplan
Swann appointment
Lethal back on board
Go home 5 replaced well
Emergence of Martin, Bewick, Crisp & Close
Plenty of Players re-signed

Gut feeling says we're in a better place moving forward

 

[MacMum]

2013 was good for game results......but

2014 is the year we gained back our club...for on- field and off-field, we now have a future.

At the end of '13, it was looking very dismal and I couldn't see past all the never ending disasters befalling the club. That has changed.

The Brisbane Lions of 2014 going into 2015 is the place to be again.