Isaac Norm Smith
Cancelled
- Apr 8, 2011
- 4,493
- 9,193
- AFL Club
- Geelong
Yeah I do agree with that. Certainly not trying to undersell Bomber or his contributions. He was fantastic for our club and we needed him big time.I agree with the good points about Scott but you're underselling Bomber. The team were absolutely in no man's land when he arrived. Yet not low enough to be given a golden ticket collection of top 5 picks over several years - unlike other coaches before creating dynasty teams etc.
You can say he had a super talented list but he and his assistants developed most from below top 20 picks where they easily could've gone either way. Wells simply got even better at finding value late in the draft or via obscure means later on.
Building a team from scratch that can go on to win 2 flags (should've been 3 but for one disastrous day) and play some of the best footy in the club's history while finally breaking our drought - it deserves so much credit. And the core squad to go on and win a third - I still give Scott all the credit in the world for that but appreciate it also as an after glow of Bombers legacy.
Around 2006 Thompson was perhaps around his Scott 2021 moment. Not age profile wise for the list but as far as was he going to be able to take this group to glory. He did it and sometimes we take that for granted because "it was a team of superstars" in hindsight.
Yes Thompson got two generational father sons in Ablett and Scarlett, then the early stages of another in Hawkins. But Scott got the peak years of the latter, plus Selwood, and a club now immersed in success heading into the free agency era where the dream of keeping a club at the top was possible.
So the era of success I think lands Danger, Cameron and a few others to give Scott that second chance at glory. Which again, he's done a magnificent job of. But my point is the two go hand in hand and we should just gladly look at the whole package of the past 20 odd years. With two incredible coaches and teams around them, with dedication of the players to match, we get 4 flags and 6 GFs, almost constantly thereabouts and a club now affiliates with success + top notch culture.
I give my thanks to both of them equally.
He was a very good coach, but IMO Scott is miles ahead of him in my view. Scott is a great coach and a notch above IMO. But I understand I'll probably be in the minority thinking that and that's okay.
I just rate Scott in the Clarkson mould, so anyone else by comparison will suffer!