Brisbane has been poor for half a decade. Why no criticism?

[lions_den]

2002 - pick 3 - J.Brennan - not a bad player but a little bit inconsistent and given McVeigh, Salopek & McIntosh were all picked soon after, this is a pick they'd love to have again.

I think I'd be speaking for the majority of Lions supporters in saying no to this. Brennan adds that x-factor, rather than being a stock standard player. He's been pretty consistent over the last 18 months too. He can look terrible at times because he's always looking to take the game on.

 

[aneale]

Many of us still think of them has having their fill of success from the 4 straight GF appearances. But the fact is the 2004 GF appearance was their last final. That is not a long time ago. Forgivable if they had ordinary list. But they havent.

Brown, Black, Bradshaw, Power, Charman, Notting have essentially played through their primes in the last 5 years, with some quality seasons from Akermanis, Johnson, Lappin, Michael, the Scotts, Sherman, Adcock, Johnstone etc. That is a solid list. It hasnt all clicked at the same time, but they have had many players shining at different times.

But no finals appearances. And with the Brown, Black, Power, Bradshaw about to leave their primes, they appear ready to sink further.

Are they in some real trouble?

Wow, a whole half decade!

Count back the last 3 flags from all the Clubs and this is where you end up. In the blink of an eye they won more flags than 6 current teams had won (to be later equalled by WCE) and blown away Clubs that are known as successful in the modern era.

Brisbane - 2001 (02, 03)
West Coast - 1992 (94, 06)
Hawthorn - 1989 (91, 08)
Essendon - 1985 (93, 00)
Carlton - 1982 (87, 95)
North - 1977 (96, 99)
Richmond - 1973 (74, 80)
Melbourne - 1959 (60,64)
Collingwood - 1953 (58, 90)
Geelong - 1952 (63, 07)
Sydney/South - 1918 (33, 05)

Adelaide - N/A
Fremantle - N/A
Port - N/A
St Kilda - N/A
Western Bulldogs - N/A

They might have some lean times once the rest of their star players go but they will never be criticised, particularly given that really only West Coast, Hawthorn and Essendon are the only Clubs that could remotely compare in recent history. They could live off that for 20 years and still have a better record than all of the Victorian teams.

 

[campbell]

rebuilding, a nice time in any teams roller coaster.

 

[Zvim]

People think Brisbane's premiership burst was the begining of an era, it was more the end of an era. They were really strong in the late 90s, had North not knocked them out of the late 90s finals I think they would have ended up with a few more cups.

Their successful period was a lot longer than people give credit to, there were just a lot of good team peaking in the late 90s.

 

[BIGBEZ]

**** another deflection thread from a kangaroo supporter...

 

[hilly]

What are we deflecting BigBadBarryBoxing?

P.S. South Melbourne should have moved to the Gold Coast

 

[BIGBEZ]

What are we deflecting BigBadBarryBoxing?

P.S. South Melbourne should have moved to the Gold Coast

Nah, Sydney is closer..., Now kangaroos on the other hand, well at least youll be happy in a local league...

 

[Last of the Roys]

I think if we had a bit of luck we could have made the finals in 2005 (injuries and suspensions really cruelled our year, but we still had 10 wins). 2006 and 2007 were our down / rebuilding years. I think we should have made the finals in 2008, we were 8-5 at one stage. If we don't make the finals in 2009 it will be a big disappointment. But overall I can't say I feel too bad (not seeing my team play in a final between 1986 and 1997 puts things into a bit of perspective, and some of those years were truly disastrous; and as everyone has mentioned, 3 flags and 4 grand finals in recent memory well and truly dulls any short term pain of not making the finals).

I pretty much agree with TheBrownDog's sentiments about our list. We are definitely not in trouble, but it still remains to be answered whether we can go beyond being a good middle-of-the road side. I think we can, but you never know in footy.

 

[BigCat2]

Circa 2005-06, with a dearth of quality youngsters, some players got more of a go than they would have otherwise got. They were for the most part solid with occasional good showings, and continued to get seleted. In the past year or two though many of them have not continued to progress, and at this stage it's probably fair to call them just solid footballers. These are players in the 40-70 game category. The question is whether you continue to pick them and hope they come good, or decide that there's little room for improvement, and we're better off playing more youngsters?

A few were shipped off last year. Moody wasn't a surprise, but Corrie raised a few eyebrows after he played 20 games. I guess Voss decided he wasn't hard enough to be part of the new gameplan forward - this has so far been shown to be the case.

My feeling is another 2-3 of those "will he or won't he" players will get moved on at the end of the year. Voss has got to develop and mould a side that he thinks will be able to challenge for a flag. Every team can only carry so many middle of the road players if they want to be good.

 

[vinum coupe]

Oh what a face plant of a thread.

Do people just sit around trying to think of something to put up so that they get attention or something?

 

[BLPC08]

I think you will find the majority of our supporters have been very critical of our team over the past 3-4 years - and the evidence is on our teams board.

 

[Duskfire]

Brisbane's back ended salary cap rorts are well documented. Provide evidence that the Cats are doing it.

Isnt it pretty well known that is exactly what the Cats have done with Scarlett and Milburn? In any case, the majority of clubs would be doing it, especially ones that are trying to hold a team together and have a few young blossoming players. I agree with BrownDog; pretty much guarantee Geelong are doing it.

In any case, its not illegal so theres no reason why Brisbane shouldnt have done it. Everyone on here would do the exact same thing if they were in such a position at a club.

 

[Big R]

Isnt it pretty well known that is exactly what the Cats have done with Scarlett and Milburn? In any case, the majority of clubs would be doing it, especially ones that are trying to hold a team together and have a few young blossoming players. I agree with BrownDog; pretty much guarantee Geelong are doing it.

In any case, its not illegal so theres no reason why Brisbane shouldnt have done it. Everyone on here would do the exact same thing if they were in such a position at a club.

Spot on. If thats what it takes to hold a team together then so be it. The clubs will have to pay in the end anyway. With better times there will be worse times. I'm glad Brisbane did it and good on Geelong for doing it also as we speak.

 

[konstas_87]

i dont think ive ever seen such strong support for the Lions on the main board, it's actually quite refreshing

i dont think anymore needs to be said in response to the thread, of all the teams to criticise for performance in recent times i would have thought Brisbane wouldnt even make the top 10.

 

[a_fighting_fury]

Name one other team that has won 3 premierships in the last 10 years. And there's your answer.

 

[_charlie_]

On top of all that, it's not like we've been complete utter shite the last few years, either. Bottom half, yes, but not like your Carltons and Melbournes that have been at the absolute bottom for consecutive years.

 

[PaddleFoot]

The obsession with recruiting big blokes really hasn't paid off - we've landed some duds and look who's in the ruck now ! We need more quality mids and crumbers - had a chance with Rioli. Criticism of the Lions drafting is fair - gone for bulk over class IMHO and the skill level suffered. The arrival of Rich just highlights that.

 

[Hollow Knight]

The obsession with recruiting big blokes really hasn't paid off - we've landed some duds and look who's in the ruck now ! We need more quality mids and crumbers - had a chance with Rioli. Criticism of the Lions drafting is fair - gone for bulk over class IMHO and the skill level suffered. The arrival of Rich just highlights that.

Apart from Spaanderman, which other talls have been duds?

 

[PaddleFoot]

Apart from Spaanderman, which other talls have been duds?

Wood Mills

 

[Hollow Knight]

Wood Mills

Mills was a dud, agreed.

Wood we received more than adequate compensation for.

But I can name just as many (if not more) mids that didn't work out either.

I'm glad we have that stock of KPP players getting their mandatory 5 years of development under their belt now. We'd be in a bad way if Brown and Bradshaw moved in in 3 years and we had no one to step in.

 

[Zvim]

Mills was a dud, agreed.

Wood we received more than adequate compensation for.

But I can name just as many (if not more) mids that didn't work out either.

I'm glad we have that stock of KPP players getting their mandatory 5 years of development under their belt now. We'd be in a bad way if Brown and Bradshaw moved in in 3 years and we had no one to step in.

You usually have 6 KPPs, 1 or 2 ruckmen and 14 or 15 running players, given the ratio you would expect the dud count to be 2.3:1 assuming your duddage is even across the board. If you have 3 dud talls then a relatively even number of dud mids would be around 7.

 

[Hollow Knight]

You usually have 6 KPPs, 1 or 2 ruckmen and 14 or 15 running players, given the ratio you would expect the dud count to be 2.3:1 assuming your duddage is even across the board.

Yeah, sounds about right.

 

[damochandler]

3 flags in a decade is better than none. i am sure north, collingwood, adelaide, freo, western bulldogs, richmond, stkilda and carlton are wishing the had the same run brisbane did

 

[cradle of filth]

They don't deserve criticism because they completely dominated in a way that possibly no one else never will for 4 years.

What goes up must eventually come down though. It's not like they were making up the numbers for 4 years and then fell in a heap.

They had a defense and midfield as good as Geelongs and a forward line as good as ours. Perhaps better on both accounts. Most of those players have since retired and Brisbane are paying the price of no good draft picks in that time.

Overall, the lions certainly haven't been crap enough, or for long enough to warrant any major criticism.

 

[BigCat2]

You usually have 6 KPPs, 1 or 2 ruckmen and 14 or 15 running players, given the ratio you would expect the dud count to be 2.3:1 assuming your duddage is even across the board. If you have 3 dud talls then a relatively even number of dud mids would be around 7.

Actually should be higher than 7, given we've spent more early picks on talls. You'd expect later draft selections to have a higher chance of duddage.