Just stay clear of Oxycotin 3KZ. Just watched a short 6 episode series on Netflix called Painkiller and I don’t know what rock I was living under but geez, had NFI about it’s impact. Good series too.I hope so. When Lester first came to my attention, I started “isolating” him
in games and watching his contributions to individual passages and micro moments. I don’t think I have ever put as much time into analysing a single player’s performance and contribution. Fairly early, it became apparent to me from around 2018 that Lester was an exceptionally capable defensive footballer who should have been a “lock” as third tall. I had him rated, no (offence to the players concerned) well above Marcus Adams for general ground play (especially in contested ground ball) and reliability and edging or on a par with Darcy Gardiner for the same criteria. I had Lester rated above Gardiner for ball use and rebound capacity. This is when I really started to advocate for him on our board and I guess the more people were dismissive or cruel about Lester, the stronger I advocated for him, so I got into a Lester Obsession Spiral. The other thing I had noticed about Lester was the amount of time he spent giving direction to those around him. Always a positive in my book.
Since I first started putting air in Lester’s tyres he has had 3 periods of playing his “best football”, in 2020, 2021 and 2023. At this stage, almost everyone is prepared to concede he is in “career best form” this season, deserves to be selected in the seniors and is a big part of what I believe will be a premiership defence. My point is that very few players past the age of 30 suddenly turn their footy around and improve, unless perhaps they get a positional change. I think this is also true of Lester. He hasn’t really improved that much at all. He hasn’t got faster, learned to tackle better, improved his kicking or marking, reading the play better, learned how run into space or direct his teammates. He has been doing all of these things to his current standard for at least the last 5 years. What HAS made a difference for Lester is that we have drafted / included a number of other skilled ground ball players like Starcevich, Coleman, McKennna and Wilmot, which means Lester doesn’t have to carry the load as much when the ball is on the deck. This has freed him up to use some of his other weapons, especially his field kicking and this is what some people are noticing for the first time, giving them the mistaken belief that he had acquired new skills. He hasn’t, but I am rapt that he has acquired new fans!
During my time as a football fan, I have really only wanted one thing for an individual player. I really wanted Fitzroy to win a Premiership in 1983 for Gary Wilson and in 2023, I want Brisbane to win a flag so Ryan Lester can have that experience.
I’ve just done my third set of knee / leg exercises for the day (two to go) and I am hopped up on painkillers, but I hope that made sense. martinson M Malice Mighty Lions DERRINALPHIL - what do you think?