Yes I remember reading some story on Freame about 18 months ago and how he basically even admitted he was the luckiest man on Earth playing in a GF in such a team full of champions. As a 16 yo kid I could never work out afterwards whatever happened to him.
He went to WA in '82 and played about three seasons for Perth.
Don't recall any of those blokes kicking 11 in two games in the lead up to finals, kicking important goals in each final, taking defenders away from our only kpf and then keeping the opposition's and arguably the competition's premier intercepting defender quiet in the GF as well as changing the whole vibe of game with a tackle on their best midfielder of that year.
I thought he got injured. I loved Scrimshaw and bc of my remote country living I didn’t know what happened to him.
HB it’s not the point WR is making. Location location with planets aligning my friend.Don't recall any of those blokes kicking 11 in two games in the lead up to finals, kicking important goals in each final, taking defenders away from our only kpf and then keeping the opposition's and arguably the competition's premier intercepting defender quiet in the GF as well as changing the whole vibe of game with a tackle on their best midfielder of that year.
Yeah to me "lucky" latecomers are like Mooney in the '99 GF not blokes who actually earnt their medals.
Good point and Townsend was a late comer and all late comers earn their medal to me as they were selected.
Ended up at East Perth.
And for most of the season, especially the early/mid part of the season when we were playing poorly and languishing around 14th on the ladder, those fans who thought player x or y could do with a spell in the VFL to find form were probably right. Traditionally that was what the VFL was often used for, and it usually works. But Hardwick's loyalty, which was both a strength and a weakness of his in my eyes, didn't allow it.
One thing about Mooney though was I bet they knew he was there. He and Max Rooke weren't much chop but they were physical beasts and split packs and brought the ball to ground, where Ablett, Bartel, Johnson, Chapman and co. were waiting. Would take Mooney right now at CHF for the same reason.
It still is used, but as I said the reasons why certain players are seemingly locked in to the 22 despite 'performances' are not known to many of us average Joe supporters. The majority of us usually look at statsand say 'Oh they had bugger all possessions so they're not in form and should be dropped', while ignoring the fact that most players in the team have specific roles they are asked to play and they will keep their spot as long as they are fulfilling that role.
We've had this discussion previously and you ignored the fact then that we're a systems & structures based side that doesn't necessarily rely on players getting plenty of possessions and you continue to ignore it now.
I recall he only got a run when the game was well over, so no he was as fortunate as ****
I get that but many of us also watch the game and who is influencing it and who is not, this has not changed in the 40+ years I've been watching footy, and the very good players go on to play season after season without controversy, and the average players who get questioned get found out or squeezed out by young players coming through.
I haven't mentioned possessions and only mentioned asked you what they've brought to the team that Ross hadn't . You are referring to some theory about roles performed , yet they hadn't been performing their roles as we were at one stage as low as 15th on the ladder. You still have ignored why Ross wasn't sent back to the VFL to fix these imaginary deficiencies he wasn't doing in his role. You're making things up.
Yeah I'm talking about his '99 premiership when he was still a skinny kid at North. No doubt he earnt the medal at Geelong.
The problem is that footy has changed. All teams now are about systems and structures that allow the team as a whole to perform well enough to win enough games so that they can hopefully win a premiership. We've had players that many here have considered to be below average players, that have walked away with premiership medals, because they played their roles in the side that allowed the team to flourish and we've had players in the VFL side that many have considered to be much better options who never got the chance to win them because they didn't play the roles asked of them well enough and they were the ones who quickly got spat out the other side.
Sigh.
Exactly. If he was fortunate to be a member of the 1999 premiership side for North, that was not the case for Geelong's 2007 and '09 flag winning teams. He was definitely an important member of those teams. Somebody with his size and aggression would be perfect for us right now at CHF.
Sorry got my years wrong. Forgot about how young he was at North, should have done my homework with the date. I vaguely recall he a very low possession Geelong GF game, but he was really important in other ways.
So nothing hey?
Played second ruck to mcKernan in that GF. That was still the days of bench players being bench players
Go tell that to Collingwood who right now play full on attacking football. Their system is not safety or about structures, its about giving the players the licence to attack, get the ball rebounding as fast as possible from their average back half to their average forward half with the leagues best by a fair way midfield in between. Fly has the players all on that page. Much like Hardwick in 2017, he let the players go and they responded in much the same way.
