If I had time it would be interesting to re-visit post from 2009. Did we have Dean Bailey under the same pressure as Mark Neeld or were we happy he was losing to get the first 2 picks of the draft. What we all need to realise we are basically back to 2009, we where an extremely bad football club, but the back half of the year we did show signs of what to expect going forward the lure of the first 2 picks was to great for us to finish of the year well but we showed improvement.

2009 after round 6, 1 win 5 losses, in fact we didn't win our next game until round 14 and then winning 3 of our last 8 and pulling up in a couple.

Then in 2010 we had a year that was good it clicked 8 wins and a draw playing very attacking footy but we struggled to stop good teams scoring against us.

Like 2009, I think we will see a strong back half of the year, it will click, hopefully we see Clark and Dawes in the same team and all of the sudden we have Gawn as a third tall option and not the first.

The question, is our list today better than our list in 2009 looking forward. To me the answer is yes mainly due to the Forward line that we will have in 2014, Hogan, Dawes, Clark, Gawn and Howe, would be nice if the 6th option was Jurrah but that gives us some good solid targets. The 2009 midfield is stronger and it will depend on how far Viney, Toumpas, M Jones, Blease, Trengove and others develop over another pre-season plus what will be another top 4 pick. We have good Ruck stocks behind Jamar and our back 6 has only really lost Rivers and Bartram since 2009, both limited and I think with another preseason to McDonald and Jetta/Strauss they will fill that void.

I have great hope that 2014 will be like 2010, the difference being we should see continued improvement beyond 2014.

IMO both 2012 and 2013 are far and beyond much worse than 2008 and 2009.

Those teams were hard to watch, but Neeld's team is much worse, and far further behind the ball than Bailey's troops were.

IMO both 2012 and 2013 are far and beyond much worse than 2008 and 2009.

Those teams were hard to watch, but Neeld's team is much worse, and far further behind the ball than Bailey's troops were.

the sorting out of preseason

the back 6 coming together and learning to play as a unit

the front looks ok when all fit

the mid is very young or not good enough, he s working on that with what hes got and starting to tighten things up a bit

delivery into the front has been abyssmal and thats the next preseason job

team is showing signs of working to a plan

no more trash talk coming out of whispers surrounding club

sorting out who can do what and where

yep id say were in a better position by miles

IMO both 2012 and 2013 are far and beyond much worse than 2008 and 2009.

Those teams were hard to watch, but Neeld's team is much worse, and far further behind the ball than Bailey's troops were.

I don't think its is far behind, I think we assess harder now because we are sick and tired of losing. If this was year 2 of the rebuild and not year 6 we would be cutting Neeld more slack.

There are 26 players where on our list in 2009 that are no longer at our club, only 9 of these are still on AFL lists these are Bennell, Cheney, Martin, Mclean, Moloney, Morton, Petterd, Rivers and Warnock. 4 of these are regulars is there current team Mclean, Moloney, Rivers and Warnock, with Petterd making a few appearances. The other 17 either were at or close to the end of their career Robertson, McDonald, Bruce, Green, Wheatley, Whelan or been no good.

Add this to the turn over last year just highlights the player turnover in a 4 year period, with out looking into this we would have at least 8 players drafted from 2009-2011 that are no longer on our list.

Edited May 6, 201312 yr by drdrake