Don't know why he's worried. It's not as if we're contending next year.

Every man and his dog has us finishing bottom 4. Anything above is a bonus.

Im not worried at all, we will be good to watch, Mc Vee replacable, Oliver made us competitive but not productive, Trac gave us an edge so hard to replace but I think Langford can be his equal.

I will go with my kids and grandson and enjoy the ride. Not like this is my or most supporters first rodeo. Merry Xmas

Our experienced players need to drive the standards both on and off the field (whilst we're regenerating and developing)

Standards need to improve (obviously) but the likes of Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, Taylor, Tholstrup, Culley, Latrelle et al need to be developed without having too much of an onus on their output

Looking at the list, there's 20+ experienced players who should all be pushing for selection on a regular basis

So it's not like we're going to be quite a youthful outfit (that can only happen if a number of the experienced players fail to deliver)

Just watched an ecological sciences video about a 'dead' forest which had been abandoned as a forestry zone but never actually given any work to restore a functioning ecosystem, so it was just a mass of the monoculture harvest trees left to go feral, blocking all light to the understory and stifling new growth. There was no birdlife, no small animals or even bugs, no mushrooms, and it was consuming groundwater to the extent of diminishing streams and agricultural water lower in the catchment.

A key part of the restoration strategy was to cut down some of the most established trees which were dominating the ecosystem without contributing to it, so that a more complex and resilient network could take hold.

The transformation happened surprisingly quickly. So, cheer up, Ox, our situation has solid metaphors.

17 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Just watched an ecological sciences video about a 'dead' forest which had been abandoned as a forestry zone but never actually given any work to restore a functioning ecosystem, so it was just a mass of the monoculture harvest trees left to go feral, blocking all light to the understory and stifling new growth. There was no birdlife, no small animals or even bugs, no mushrooms, and it was consuming groundwater to the extent of diminishing streams and agricultural water lower in the catchment.

A key part of the restoration strategy was to cut down some of the most established trees which were dominating the ecosystem without contributing to it, so that a more complex and resilient network could take hold.

The transformation happened surprisingly quickly. So, cheer up, Ox, our situation has solid metaphors.

The ox is slow.

I’d be worried about us if I still expected us to be a finals team (like in 2024 and 2025)

But it’s clear that there’s been a shift since King was appointed and Trac and Clarry were traded out

Happy for this to be a development / settling year where King develops his gameplan and our young players start taking the next step

And besides - we finished bottom 6 in back to back years with Trac and Clarry anyway, so what have we got to lose

There are good coaches and no so good coaches ( often career killers ) that determine the team's outcome . Under King I am sure we will make finals providing we don't have a lot of injuries.