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chaosball32
Senior List
- May 1, 2024
- 150
- 574
- AFL Club
- Fremantle
Making this post in the hopes that we somehow win our last 2 games and it backfires spectacularly
Given our current predicament, losing/choking 2 very winnable games in the past 2 weeks - among others earlier in the season - and having to face two top-4 teams to round out the season, there’s now a very realistic chance Freo miss finals altogether.
Which is quite remarkable considering we were equal 2nd just 12 short days ago. But of course this just had to be the most even season in recent memory.
That will make it just 1 finals series in 9 years for Freo. The only team worse in that same time period being Gold Coast. And 1 finals series in 5 years under Longmuir.
Our age profile remains amongst the youngest in the competition, as we have been for 5 or 6 years now. Which is the result of so many players leaving every off-season combined with always going heavy at the draft. Yes you can say that most of the players who’ve left have overall been a net positive for us but the age and experience they bring is invaluable, as you can see how inconsistent we’ve been this season, which is what can happen when you have a young team. We have three 1st rounders this off-season so the opportunity to bring in some established talent and speed up our premiership window opening is there, and with us being stacked with talent in the 18-25 range, it won’t hurt our future to do so.
Worst of all is seeing the emergence of Hawthorn, a team who accomplished a dynasty (2013 and 2015 still hurts), stayed competitive for a few years after, bottomed out under Clarkson and now is playing some of the most exciting and attractive football under Mitchell. Their list is skewed older by the likes of Bruest and Gunston but they have such a good young core - Day, Newcombe, Macdonald, Mackenzie, Ginnivan, Weddle, Dear, Watson etc all under 23. Similar age profile to us but are playing the footy and producing the results that we should be, and have done it in half the time. Really puts our rebuild to shame.
What say you? Personally I’m getting a bit fed up with the excuses, I think we have all the tools to be a successful footy club but consistently fail to be. When I say successful, I don’t mean winning the flag every year, but at least being a reliable, competitive and respected team who consistently are up there come September - like a Sydney, GWS or Geelong. 1 finals series in 9 years is woeful in retrospect.
Given our current predicament, losing/choking 2 very winnable games in the past 2 weeks - among others earlier in the season - and having to face two top-4 teams to round out the season, there’s now a very realistic chance Freo miss finals altogether.
Which is quite remarkable considering we were equal 2nd just 12 short days ago. But of course this just had to be the most even season in recent memory.
That will make it just 1 finals series in 9 years for Freo. The only team worse in that same time period being Gold Coast. And 1 finals series in 5 years under Longmuir.
Our age profile remains amongst the youngest in the competition, as we have been for 5 or 6 years now. Which is the result of so many players leaving every off-season combined with always going heavy at the draft. Yes you can say that most of the players who’ve left have overall been a net positive for us but the age and experience they bring is invaluable, as you can see how inconsistent we’ve been this season, which is what can happen when you have a young team. We have three 1st rounders this off-season so the opportunity to bring in some established talent and speed up our premiership window opening is there, and with us being stacked with talent in the 18-25 range, it won’t hurt our future to do so.
Worst of all is seeing the emergence of Hawthorn, a team who accomplished a dynasty (2013 and 2015 still hurts), stayed competitive for a few years after, bottomed out under Clarkson and now is playing some of the most exciting and attractive football under Mitchell. Their list is skewed older by the likes of Bruest and Gunston but they have such a good young core - Day, Newcombe, Macdonald, Mackenzie, Ginnivan, Weddle, Dear, Watson etc all under 23. Similar age profile to us but are playing the footy and producing the results that we should be, and have done it in half the time. Really puts our rebuild to shame.
What say you? Personally I’m getting a bit fed up with the excuses, I think we have all the tools to be a successful footy club but consistently fail to be. When I say successful, I don’t mean winning the flag every year, but at least being a reliable, competitive and respected team who consistently are up there come September - like a Sydney, GWS or Geelong. 1 finals series in 9 years is woeful in retrospect.