6 minutes ago, sue said:

The two are not incompatible.  I believe we had an opportunity lost AND a good year.

I guess my main frustration was watching us regularly give up significant leads and fall away in the last halves. It was not just a problem in finals but more systemic so I guess I'm looking at it as a glass half empty.

Goodyear?

Felt more like the Hindenburg...

Not a good year. The race to the flag was wide open; no dynasty team standing in our way and we squandered the opportunity.

Good year? Some people live in cloud cuckoo land.

We lost 7 of our 8 losses after leading by 24+ points.

There is something seriously wrong with our method that has been identified early on and failed to be rectified. Even in our 10 early wins our form was ordinary.

The coaching staff wear this one. You don't get many gilt edged opportunities to make GFs and we bottled it losing 2 games on our home deck and defeated in the same circumstances with virtually a full list.

Garbage about the draw and players banged up is just embarrassing.

I was bullish about our year and mocked those who thought we were not going well after a 10 - zip start

On reflection, how wrong I was and apologies to those I maligned

Disappointing, [censored] year

Unfit, out coached and out of touch with developing the whole squad

It was a good year with a crap finish and now questions over our methods. That's in a nutshell. 

Q to those that would have called a prelim a pass. I assume we're all on the same page RE injuries and form getting the better of us at the wrong time or the year. So why split hairs over whether we lost this week or the next? 

Not backing up a premiership after winning one following a long period of not doing so isn't an exception, it's the norm.

Taking all the "first-time" premiership winners for the last 20 odd years, not one has gone back-to-back following a "first" premiership. People talk about the Hawks: won in 2008 but then not again till 2013. Geelong: won in 2007 then went on/off for the next 4 seasons. Richmond won in 2017, then missed out in 2018.

It's  not just about last season and this season but this period of 5 years or so, 2021 - 2025. Fingers crossed that we don't lose the likes of Gawn, May or Oliver to long-term injuries for any of those.

Why is it that when a positive thread is created it’s not long before it’s hijacked by the perennial gripers???

Anyways, this WAS a good year in terms of being able to attend matches. After experiencing 2020 and 2021 it was a joy to not have to watch games from our lounge rooms during lockdown. No crowd limits. No mandatory mask wearing. And the QR thing and the vax certificate stipulation were jettisoned fairly early in the season.

See, it’s not so hard to see the positives. ☀️ 

12 hours ago, chook fowler said:

I don't think losing 2 home finals to interstate teams can be spun as a good year. More like a great opportunity lost. 

Definitely an opportunity lost fellow chook. Where this year fits in the grander scheme probably depends on what the next few years look like, e.g. if we can manage another flag or two over the next few years it will be seen much more favourably than if we fail to challenge in this period. It is difficult to tell where we sit a week after being out of finals in straight sets after a mixed regular season.

14 hours ago, DemonWA said:

Not a thread about tyres.

Lots of doom and gloom on here but personally I think our season was far from a waste or a disgrace. 

Backing up from a flag to win 10 on the trott at the front end (when people were hoping we'd be drunk on bathwater) and then to finish 2nd is a very decent result. Clarry winning gongs for fun, and the AA side littered with Dees. VFL side as dominant as any that I can recall. 

If we had had a season like the doggies or tigers I would be carrying on like alot of the hand wringers on here. Flags don't grow on trees and you don't get a armchair ride to a dynasty just beacuse youn win one- some fair weather supporters need to realise this and get behind the boys for next year. 

Anything where you are not improving is not a good year. We took backwards steps in a lot of areas. 

We didn’t really discover any new talent, didn’t showcase any new tactics. We regressed in method and game plan execution. Pressure and fitness well down. 

We were lucky (yes you heard me) to get 2nd spot. We should have lost to Carlton which would have found us in 5th spot, right where we ended up finishing after finals.

To accept anything less than a premiership is accepting mediocrity which I’m sick of after 57 years. I want continued success which means winning finals - not straight sets. 

Was it a disaster? No, but don’t for a minute think it was a good year because it wasn’t. 

Maybe it was a reasonable year and not so much a good year?

One taste of success last year and some now expect it year in year out. MFCSS has completely reversed and it's fascinating really.

We gave ourselves every chance to go back to back this year but unfortunately couldn't put it together over the last few weeks. While disappointing, it hardly makes for a "bad" year. By all means we should be reflecting on what went wrong, and looking to address a few obvious holes in our list up forward. But any way you look at it, top 4 is a fantastic year of footy. I had a great time watching footy again this year, I mean how good is it coming from where we did to being top 4 all year and getting a double chance in September? I still pinch myself at times wondering is this really the demons?! I love being relevant, its a feeling that has been a rarity throughout my life.

We'll be competing for years to come with this list, so sit back and enjoy the ride. A lot needs to come together at once for a flag to happen, and a lot of it is luck really. For example, I'm certain we would have finished minor premiers again if we didn't lose Tmac. Structurally that killed us. Last year we had a blessed run injuries wise, this year not so much. That's footy. 

Can't wait for us to have another tilt in 2023. Time for me to go into DL hibernation till the pre season kicks off. See you all on the other side. Go Dee's!!! 

Weren’t we sponsored by Hancook Tyres once?

We will return, like the number of the beast.

An average year more like it. I give us a pass mark because we made the finals but to go out in straight sets is disappointing. If we made it to the prelim I would have said good year, anymore would be a great year.