SMACK!
Debutant
Alright, so I'm absolutely shattered and all last night I spent pondering the what ifs of the game and kicking myself over missed chances and so on and so forth. Then I realised there's an awful lot to like about this list and I started going over the positives. The reality is whilst we're all shattered, if we'd been offered this at the start of the year we would have taken 5th place in a heartbeat and there's a lot to look forward to. So I decided to make a thread completely devoid of negativity and highlighting just how ****ing awesome and wonderful this club still is. Feel free to add some thoughts to this:
* We have one of if not the best young list in the competition.
* Bernie Vince looks more and more like a slightly less damaging Ben Cousins with each and every game he plays and has gone from being a solid contributor who couldn't handle a tag to our most important midfielder who carves it up even when getting illegal treatment from opposition players. An absolute star
* At the start of the year James Sellar was hopeless, pathetic, disgraceful, not AFL standard and was to be delisted, hung, drawn, quartered and sent to Baghdad. Now he's a brutal manbeast who eats small children for breakfast and thrives on second, third, fourth and fifth efforts.
* Dave Mackay doesn't need to oil up before a game because the amount of class he oozes throughout his body lubricates him adequately for the rest of the night. He is close to the best disposer of a football by foot in the AFL and has a sense of the big occasion ala a young A Mcleod. BOG last night for mine.
* Questions were previously raised about Andy Otten(s) and his ability to handle finals like pressure. Last night he clunked about 5 awesome contested marks, has more time than anyone else out there on the ground and looks for all the world to be a Ben Hart clone. All of this is pretty good for a guy playing out of position and who is destined to be a top line midfielder. Which leads into:
* Philthy Davis. The man who WILL debut next year for us (barring injury) and slot nicely into Andy Otten's position allowing Andy to be freed up and torment clubs in the centre of the ground. Guys who are a key position height but agile and smart enough to play in any role on the ground are as rare as hens teeth and we have a few of them (See Otten). This kid will be an exceptional player.
* How often have we been able to say we have one of the most prodigious AFL forward talents sitting on our list but we can't find room for him because our forward line is too strong at the moment? Tex is going to be an out and out champion and next year with a bigger pre season and a bigger tank he'll be tormenting sides from the boundary line, from outside 50 and from wherever the hell he feels like.
* Kurt Tippett is a monster destroyer who crushes cities in his spare time and will most likely kick 60 - 80 goals next year whilst still having 300 hitouts and over 9000 hard ball gets. Is ANOTHER one of the most prodigious forward line talents in the AFL and we have him
*Chris Knights is just about the only guy in the league who can wheel around onto his laser beam and kick a goal from the defensive 50 metre line. Has gone from being somewhat of a whipping boy to one of the best medium sized forwards in the competition. Works really well with Tippett and Porps and with Walker and SMACK! coming into the lineup in the next year and two years respectively will only get more and more access to kicking ridiculous goals from 90 metres out on an 87 degree angle
* Jason Porplyzia kicked almost 60 goals without even being 6 foot and is just about the best small forward in the comp bar maybe Chapman. When you add his name to the likes of Walker, Tippett, Hentschel, Knights and Mckernan you be afraid. You be very afraid. Hands and footskills are almost identical to Fudd Jarman.
* Saved this one till last. All of the above is awesome but it means nothing when you haven't mentioned this name. Dangerfield. D-A-N-G-E-R-F-I-E-L-D. Saying it out loud just gives me chills. I genuinely believe that this kid will take the place of the likes of Judd, Ablett and co because he has it all. Height, Pace, Kamikaze nature and the ability to go sonic the hedgehog and destroy everything in his path. The kid is a freaking gun. He's 19 years old and he's already a clone of Mark Ricciuto only about 4 times quicker. People questioned his kicking for goal so he worked on it until he became one of the best set shots in our team. Just wait until he starts benchpressing buses - then the league will be in trouble. Will retire an all time great of the game IMO.
Basically it hurts like hell what happened last night but it doesn't change the fact that our list is in the best shape it's ever been.
Tippett, Walker, Porplyzia, Otten, Knights, Dangerfield, Mackay, Vince, Sellar, Petrenko, Sloane, Davis, Henderson, SMACK, Maric, Johncock, Bock, Rutten, Henstchel, Thompson, van Berlo. Just some names that make me smile and who will be part of the next 3-5 years of greatness that this club experiences. When you consider the age of some of those guys we're in for a great few years. One or two of them may be speculative but that doesn't change the fact that we're sitting pretty well in the depth stakes and we have some E-LEET talent coming through. I still ****ing love this club.
Feel free to add your own as I've only expanded on the basics. Positives and constructive points only pls
Oh and FYI, Geelong experienced heartbreak in a similar final against Sydney and look what that spurred them onto...
* We have one of if not the best young list in the competition.
* Bernie Vince looks more and more like a slightly less damaging Ben Cousins with each and every game he plays and has gone from being a solid contributor who couldn't handle a tag to our most important midfielder who carves it up even when getting illegal treatment from opposition players. An absolute star
* At the start of the year James Sellar was hopeless, pathetic, disgraceful, not AFL standard and was to be delisted, hung, drawn, quartered and sent to Baghdad. Now he's a brutal manbeast who eats small children for breakfast and thrives on second, third, fourth and fifth efforts.
* Dave Mackay doesn't need to oil up before a game because the amount of class he oozes throughout his body lubricates him adequately for the rest of the night. He is close to the best disposer of a football by foot in the AFL and has a sense of the big occasion ala a young A Mcleod. BOG last night for mine.
* Questions were previously raised about Andy Otten(s) and his ability to handle finals like pressure. Last night he clunked about 5 awesome contested marks, has more time than anyone else out there on the ground and looks for all the world to be a Ben Hart clone. All of this is pretty good for a guy playing out of position and who is destined to be a top line midfielder. Which leads into:
* Philthy Davis. The man who WILL debut next year for us (barring injury) and slot nicely into Andy Otten's position allowing Andy to be freed up and torment clubs in the centre of the ground. Guys who are a key position height but agile and smart enough to play in any role on the ground are as rare as hens teeth and we have a few of them (See Otten). This kid will be an exceptional player.
* How often have we been able to say we have one of the most prodigious AFL forward talents sitting on our list but we can't find room for him because our forward line is too strong at the moment? Tex is going to be an out and out champion and next year with a bigger pre season and a bigger tank he'll be tormenting sides from the boundary line, from outside 50 and from wherever the hell he feels like.
* Kurt Tippett is a monster destroyer who crushes cities in his spare time and will most likely kick 60 - 80 goals next year whilst still having 300 hitouts and over 9000 hard ball gets. Is ANOTHER one of the most prodigious forward line talents in the AFL and we have him
*Chris Knights is just about the only guy in the league who can wheel around onto his laser beam and kick a goal from the defensive 50 metre line. Has gone from being somewhat of a whipping boy to one of the best medium sized forwards in the competition. Works really well with Tippett and Porps and with Walker and SMACK! coming into the lineup in the next year and two years respectively will only get more and more access to kicking ridiculous goals from 90 metres out on an 87 degree angle
* Jason Porplyzia kicked almost 60 goals without even being 6 foot and is just about the best small forward in the comp bar maybe Chapman. When you add his name to the likes of Walker, Tippett, Hentschel, Knights and Mckernan you be afraid. You be very afraid. Hands and footskills are almost identical to Fudd Jarman.
* Saved this one till last. All of the above is awesome but it means nothing when you haven't mentioned this name. Dangerfield. D-A-N-G-E-R-F-I-E-L-D. Saying it out loud just gives me chills. I genuinely believe that this kid will take the place of the likes of Judd, Ablett and co because he has it all. Height, Pace, Kamikaze nature and the ability to go sonic the hedgehog and destroy everything in his path. The kid is a freaking gun. He's 19 years old and he's already a clone of Mark Ricciuto only about 4 times quicker. People questioned his kicking for goal so he worked on it until he became one of the best set shots in our team. Just wait until he starts benchpressing buses - then the league will be in trouble. Will retire an all time great of the game IMO.
Basically it hurts like hell what happened last night but it doesn't change the fact that our list is in the best shape it's ever been.
Tippett, Walker, Porplyzia, Otten, Knights, Dangerfield, Mackay, Vince, Sellar, Petrenko, Sloane, Davis, Henderson, SMACK, Maric, Johncock, Bock, Rutten, Henstchel, Thompson, van Berlo. Just some names that make me smile and who will be part of the next 3-5 years of greatness that this club experiences. When you consider the age of some of those guys we're in for a great few years. One or two of them may be speculative but that doesn't change the fact that we're sitting pretty well in the depth stakes and we have some E-LEET talent coming through. I still ****ing love this club.
Feel free to add your own as I've only expanded on the basics. Positives and constructive points only pls
Oh and FYI, Geelong experienced heartbreak in a similar final against Sydney and look what that spurred them onto...
