Firstly, I've never complained that they've not had a disclosed plan in the past. I've been a supporter for nearly 30 years and have done just fine without hearing about any 5 year plans. The only time I've commented on a 'plan', was when Fagan told us that we'd achieved everything in a plan we weren't told about and was simultaneously at the lowest point of our near 30 year history. I simply don't care about plans, except to the extent that without one, it's hard to get a grant these days. And I've seen my share of templated strategic plans put together by accounting firms, paid for by departments of business, being dusted off and re-created a few years later. And the on,y winner is the 'expert at everything' accountancy firm on the procurement panel.
in terms of our club, I don't think our primary objective is to win a flag. I think the plan, as per the posted annual report primary aim, is to play finals. And I think that there's an assumption that if you play enough finals, it's a foregone conclusion that you'll eventually snag a flag. I also reckon that if a genie popped out of a bottle and offered the board and footy dept 5 straight 8th placed finishes or 4 bottom 3 finishes and a flag, they'd unanimously go with the former.
And yeh, I reckon we need 2 more years near the bottom and nail the picks with mids in order to redress those 4 failed first picks across a few years before ascending with a genuinely contending group. I do think it's laughable that we look at our best 22 right now and reckon we can start challenging the bottom part of the 8 (which I fear we might) and then start adding pick 10s over the next 4 years and have somehow built a flag winning midfield.
I'd be thrilled to be wrong, as I was with Nix forcing Sloane from captaincy, but there's many more moving parts to building a list that can genuinely compete for a flag than making a single and obvious decision.
