Nice bit of revisionist history dazzler.
I absolutely agree last season that i said we should have had faith in our training program and that it will set us up well come finals.
I believed it last year, and I believe it this year.
NOTHING that happened last year invalidated that opinion, despite what the ‘I told you’ crew all crowed.
Even with the benefit of hindsight I would say the same thing about our training program last season. I stand by those comments.
I made clear - on many, many, many occasions - there were no guarantees, there were multiple factors at play (many of which the club, rightly keeps mum about), there are any number of things that could impact their preparation (like having multiple players battling injuries) and the reality is we won’t know until finals if they have got it right.
And I accepted we had some specific weaknesses, highlighting our dependence on Tmac the week before his injury, noting our poor kicking skills and challenge shutting down oppo small and medium forwards. I have acknowledged that I didn’t put enough credence in criticisms about our forward half pressure.
I also made crystal clear, on so many occasions it’s not funny, that whilst I thought we would win the flag, I accepted there was every chance we wouldn’t.
It’s not my fault some posters can’t do nuance and see everything in binary outcomes.
Like calling the game today a must win game if we are to be considered a real contender (I’ve even heard some media and fans say we can’t make top 4 if we lose today – sheesh).
I was quiet after the Lions finals loss because I was absolutley devastated.
But also, seriously what was the point of making any comment?
All the usual posters with their ‘I told you all along we were no good, I was right’ rhetoric would have just completely drowned out any nuanced discussion of the factors impacting and/or contributing to our performances (eg as we all now know, after flogging the lions in round 23, we came into the finals with as many as 11 players carrying an injury – something that was pretty obvious if you didn’t have the ‘stop with the excuses, we were just not good enough’ yada, yada, yada blinkers on).
And I’ll point out I didn’t play the ‘I was right’ game in 2021, when my predictions about it all being about being cherry ripe come finals, and what that meant for our chances of winning a flag, were proved overwhelmingly correct. Point me to one post where I crowed about being right to the many, many nay sayers.
On predictions, I’m batting .500. Pretty good strike rate when you are talking about predictions of winning a flag if you ask me.
So not awkward at all.
To be perfectly honest, just no patience for back and forths with binary, I was right you were wrong, black and white thinkers who can’t do nuance (not saying that is you Dazzler).
So, to avoid any future confusion or revisionism, this is my opinion on how we are tracking this year:
Goody has taken every opportunity to make clear everything is about being ready come finals (a point I have heard Mcrae and Howes both make when asked about their scrappy performances in the last 3 weeks)
Last year we only had a 9 day bye break. Unfortunately the same is true this season.
Selwyn Griffith has said that this creates significant challenges with planning when and how to doing the heavier blocks of power and aerobic conditioning required around the bye period – no doubt they would have learned things from last year in terms of how best to manage this issue
I think our training and load management program this season will set us up well come finals
I love that Goody is clearly experimenting with all manner of things - even though that decreases the chances of us winning individual games (it’s all about the finals)
I love the fact that goody has taken cues from the what the Cats did last year, for example managing hibbo – things many posters were crying out for him to copy last season
I think the Pies are an excellent team, but have not achieved anything year and are ridiculously overrated (including by many posters on DL)
I think we are a better team than the Pies
I acknowledge we have some key weaknesses – eg, for the second year running the second tall forward is an issue, with salo in Mcvee helps address the small forward issue, but it still concerns me, I prefer Petty back and worry about the third tall if he doesn’t play back, Hunter and Mcvee have improved our overall kicking skills, but it still concerns me
We are not playing in a vacuum - ALL team have key weaknesses, including everyone’s favourite team the Pies
I think we will win the flag
I think we should be favourites to win the flag – if I was framing a market, i would have us as $5 favs, with the pies second favourite at 5.50 (pies are currently fav at a ridiculously short 3.50 – we are equal second fav on 5.50)
But to be CRYSTAL CLEAR that doesn’t mean I think there is a chance we won’t win it
$5 is 4-1 in the old. Which means that if the season is played out 100 times, even as 4-1 favourites we lose 80 times and only win 20 times
(On the pies everyone seems to have them as lock to win the flag. Well, except punters that is. Let’s say you think the Pies should be even shorter than their current 3.50 quote. Perhaps you are really bullish and have them at $2. That’s even money. Which by the by, is the price of the dominant tiger’s team at the start of 2018 finals. Meaning if the season is played out 100 times, even as even money favourites they only win 50 times ie they lose as often as they win)
So, if it easier for people to process – what I mean when I say I think the dees will win the flag is we are the team most likely to win the flag (but another team winning the flag is the most probable outcome)