Injury Hanley out for 18 weeks

[chopperduck]

Dont think he went back at xmas either. Maybe went back post season though.

 

[iBeng]

Didnt they have a decent break over Christmas? Would make sense for him to have gone back for that...

Eh. Im not 100% confident but I think I did read/hear about it. Looks like they've changed the original article on Lions.com.au to the most recent one though...

 

[SizeMatters]

OH FFS... there goes our top 8 ambitions. Nobody on our list has as much X-factor as Hanley and to have him gone for half a season is utter crap. Well at least we'll most likely get to see some youngsters have a run next year. Cutler and possibly Dawson could cover him a bit.

 

[Skoob]

Who had ambitions for top 8?

 

[SizeMatters]

I just assumed every team at least aims for top 8 every season. Why else compete then?

 

[Nunez]

I just assumed every team at least aims for top 8 every season. Why else compete then?

Carlscum tanking ring any bells? Lol

 

[Skoob]

I just assumed every team at least aims for top 8 every season. Why else compete then?

Every player, team and fan should have a belief that on any given day, they can win. And every week, teams should go out there to give themselves the best chance of doing that.
For our blokes, where the team is at, their ambition should be just to improve and play the best they can. Take it one game at a time, not to be thinking of holding up a cup in September. As teams do their best and improve, the results take care of themselves. For us as fans, it is much the same, each week we can hope for a win, but realistically, I have no expectation of the Lions being a finals team this year.
As for "Why else compete", just because I don't expect it this year, doesn't mean the year isn't an important part of our journey to that ultimate prize.

 

[BuntonRules]

I just assumed every team at least aims for top 8 every season. Why else compete then?

Gotta agree. Just cos ya think ya can't make it dont mean ya dont try for it.

 

[Skoob]

Gotta agree. Just cos ya think ya can't make it dont mean ya dont try for it.

Every team has to have a target, but the target needs to be realistic/attainable.
I don't think St Kilda or Melbourne are going into the season thinking they might be Premiers, and neither are we.
Could we make the 8? Sure, it's just a matter of winning enough games. Is the club realistically aiming for that? No. 10 wins or more is the stated target this year.

 

[BuntonRules]

Every team has to have a target, but the target needs to be realistic/attainable.
I don't think St Kilda or Melbourne are going into the season thinking they might be Premiers, and neither are we.
Could we make the 8? Sure, it's just a matter of winning enough games. Is the club realistically aiming for that? No. 10 wins or more is the stated target this year.

Is it feasible that we make the 8? Can we do it, if the Gods smile on us? Can we win the 10, and then 2 or 3 more - if the boys play out of their skins, and others hit hurdles? YES. Then we go for it.

 

[Skoob]

Is it feasible that we make the 8? Can we do it, if the Gods smile on us? Can we win the 10, and then 2 or 3 more - if the boys play out of their skins, and others hit hurdles? YES. Then we go for it.

We can, and we will try to win as many games as we can. I am saying that it is not our (the team's) focus/aim. As I said, the focus will be to play as well as they can, get structures/plan right and tackle the season one game at a time.
They won't be thinking "Right, we got a couple of good players in the off season, let's play finals".
Anyway, I'm not sure how many times I can reiterate that, so if I haven't convinced, that's that.
I will be going into the season with the "ambition for the team to play well, improve and hopefully get some wins. I don't think I'll be disappointed. For those looking toward September at this time of the year, with the team we've got, are probably getting a bit ahead of themselves.
Again, could we make the 8? yes. Is that the expectation? Not for me, and I don't think it is for the club either.

 

[matwt73]

I think Pearce met up with his brothers in the States post season, I remembe something about florida. So I'm blaming Jeb Bush.

As for whether we have/had top 8 ambitions.

I think as Skoob says we go into every game aiming to give ourselves the best chance of winning, and we go into every season with a clear understanding of what we need to achieve and want to achieve. I would suggest that most of those targets will be ambitious but achievable. Challenging but reachable. THey will also be goals that we have control over, so a goal like 'making the eight' which at this stage in our development would require us to do everything right AND have lots of things also go our way, would likely not be on the team board.

We wantt o attain our goals by our own work, not miss them by bad luck.

I would also suggest that any goal that cannot survive the unavailablity of one specific player (no matter how good they are) would be a pretty silly team goal anyway. Hanley will be missed, but then so were Rick and Redden and Leuey.

 

[SizeMatters]

Great way to sell the brand... "We have set goals to improve but the top 8 is out of reach. Come back next year!"

 

[Skoob]

Great way to sell the brand... "We have set goals to improve but the top 8 is out of reach. Come back next year!"

Have you heard anyone from the club state "Our aim is to be in the top 8 this year"?
I'm pretty sure it has been stated that the aim this year is to get wins into double figures (10 or more).

 

[matwt73]

Great way to sell the brand... "We have set goals to improve but the top 8 is out of reach. Come back next year!"

As opposed to your "Brisbane Lions- one player down, and we're all F***ed"

See, easy as it is to read something in to what someone has written, it rarely advances the discussion.

 

[Fatcat08]

Great way to sell the brand... "We have set goals to improve but the top 8 is out of reach. Come back next year!"

I think that you and skoob are talking about different things, I reckon he's talking about a fans point of view and you're maybe taking it as what he believes the club is thinking. No doubt all clubs aim for finals, however some are further away then others and I fully agree with the whole game to game goals, results flow from there. So while we may aim for top 8 i'd guess that the clubs goals will be more incremental than that.

As for the whole there goes the season, if one player going down for half the year is the reason we miss out on finals then I'd suggest that we're not really ready for finals then.

Its a funny one setting goals like that. You want to give the fanbase hope and sell the brand, but you don't want to oversell it and look like mugs when you fall way short (cough "Carlton" cough). Its a balancing act, one which we got horribly wrong after 2009.

 

[Kernel Kurtz]

We can, and we will try to win as many games as we can. I am saying that it is not our (the team's) focus/aim. As I said, the focus will be to play as well as they can, get structures/plan right and tackle the season one game at a time.
They won't be thinking "Right, we got a couple of good players in the off season, let's play finals".
Anyway, I'm not sure how many times I can reiterate that, so if I haven't convinced, that's that.
I will be going into the season with the "ambition for the team to play well, improve and hopefully get some wins. I don't think I'll be disappointed. For those looking toward September at this time of the year, with the team we've got, are probably getting a bit ahead of themselves.
Again, could we make the 8? yes. Is that the expectation? Not for me, and I don't think it is for the club either.

Comes down to how you phrase your expectations at the end.
One way of saying it is your expectations are improvements,
the other you expect to be close or a possibility of sneaking into the top eight. Both really are related .

You would hope that Leppa and co. expect enough improvement, etc. so we are a possibility of sneaking into the eight, even though he doesn't say as much.
Even Browny spoke of disappointment when it was obvious it was season over, (a few seasons ago when we had no right to be close), so to me all the players would be striving to play finals.
It's a little sad that the mere talk of finals is like a jinks or an over expectation for our club .
Lets hope this time next year ......

 

[Vdubs]

I feel badly for you guys, love watching this guy play, always makes us look flat-footed.
At least they've set a realistic time-frame.

 

[QAFL_Fan]

I just assumed every team at least aims for top 8 every season. Why else compete then?

Melbourne have already publicly stated they are aiming for Top 8 in 2016.

Not sure what they are doing in 2015, hopefully just setting themselves for QB weekend.