The Dogs have Lost their Bite as their Premiership Window is slammed shut!
I was one of the many AFL so called experts who believed the Dogs was a serious chance for the 2010 premiership and my prediction looked good at the end of the pre season competition where they mauled their opponents. However one round from the finals what has happened to them?
Adam Cooneys injury is a big blow for the Dogs premiership chances for 2010.
It is like the club has self exploded and I would not be surprised to see them go out in straight sets.
Cooney, Morris and Johnson will all likely miss the complete final series. While Cooney’s season has been average compared to his Brownlow season, he imo along with Griffen is the key for a Doggies premiership success as they have youth, skill and the time to improve as players where the rest of the best players are all over an age were their best is now or behind them. You have Johnson, Hall, Eagleton, Hudson, Hahn, Gilbee, Hargrave, Boyd, Lake, Morris, Gia and Murphy all over 28. That is 12 players in their best 22!
Morris’ injury robs Lake playing his loose man in defence and while I agree with Aker that Eade has carried Johnson in 2010, he still is important.
Eade’s sooky lah whine after the game about the SCG surface is the start of the end, if you already did not believe it had started to end. Their premiership window has slammed shut!
Why Fremantle will never win a Premiership
I have written before about culture but that can be changed and I seriously thought that Mark Harvey had turned the Freo shipwreck around but I was wrong.
I understand player management, Geelong had done it perfectly for the last three years and St Kilda did it last year but Fremantle’s ‘resting’ (I would label it as tanking) is laughable and demonstrates that Fremantle will never never win a premiership. You do NOT rest 7 players at a time, it would have been better if they did a rolling rest.
Not only has their confidence hit rock bottom, the flogging could well see them not win a home final and not to mention the loss of respect they finally gained in 2010.
Beau Waters Hit Good for the AFL?
Has anyone seen the Beau Waters hit on Leigh Adams? If not, you must try and dig out a video on you tube or something because it is a perfect example of a shepherd.
However did anyone watch the 60 minutes episode a few hours after watching Adams wobble all around after the hit? 90% of men like the big hits but lets face it, most will not argue against their wives/ partners not letting their little Johnny play AFL and little Johnny will play soccer instead.
Your Rant or Opinion?
What do you think of the fat couch potatoes rant? Agree with him or do you think he has to get off the couch and do some exercise? If you have your own rant, please also sit on the couch with me and lets rant together.
August 25th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Sorry Jerm but this is one of the worst pieces of writing i have ever seen…What exactly is this assumption that the fabled ‘premiership window’ is slammed shut based on??? I can tell you one thing it certainly isn’t based on any facts or research whatsoever. You are sensationalizing this issue and your argument is merely a knee jerk reaction to the poor football the injury and illness ravaged Dogs have played over the past two weeks.
There are a number of ways to look at things and you have failed to acknowledge that the Dogs, despite having players who were supposed to be vital to our top 4 chances (Aker 9games, Johnno 12 games, Eagle 12 games, Minson 12 games, Hahn 15 games, Higgins 16games)miss a significant amount of games, have still managed to secure a top4 spot a fortnight out from the finals on the back of some courageous warriors and some plucky young kids.
Have a good look at some of the guys who are under 25, Cooney, Griffen, Higgins, Harbrow, Addison, Hill, Stack, Ward, Reid, Wood, Roughead, Picken, Williams, Moles, Everitt, Minson, Jones and Grant. That’s 18 blokes who have all had decent game time in a top4 team. When you throw in Howard and Cordy (first round picks from the last two drafts) and father/son selections in Wallis and Liberatore (both rated top 25 selections, we will get them for significantly less)I think things have never looked brighter down at the kennel…
As a comparison the Cats under 25′s look something like this; Blake, Hawkins, Hunt, Menzel, Taylor, Gamble, Gillies, Selwood, Hogan, Laidler, Djerrkurra and Varcoe.
and the Saints; Eddy, Armitage, Geary, Gwilt, Gilbert, McEvoy, McQualter, Ray and Stanley.
Mark my words, the Dogs and Pies are only just getting started…they both will be powerful for sometime yet.
I suggest the Fat Couch Potato should do a little more research before he opens his mouth again…
August 26th, 2010 at 8:55 am
Cooney, Griffen, Stack, Roughead, Grant and Everitt are/ will be great successes at the Doggies. Harbrow looks likely to be at the Gold Coast next year and Higgins has yet to follow up his breakout season last year. The rest I will need to take your word for.
However your best players besides Cooney, Griffen and Harbrow are over the 28 year old bracket and I do NOT see your list improving when Johno, Hall etc leave at the end of this year or next.
I also think its safe to say that Eade is putting all his eggs in the one basket to play off in the Grand Final 2010. Obviously he also thinks 2010 is the last chance for premiership success.
The difference between Geelongs list and the Doggies is that they have won two grand finals and the Dogs? Agree about the Saints but I have not rated them like I did the Dogs…
You may think I am sensationalizing this issue and my argument is merely a knee jerk reaction to the poor football, the injuries and illness that has ravaged the Dogs. However I have been asking questions all year about the Dogs and their capability of winning a premiership since my tip at the stat of the year.
Jermayn´s last [type]: Fat Couch Potatoes Rant
August 26th, 2010 at 9:25 am
@Jermayn,
Haven’t we had this conversation before? glad you have moved over to my side. Dogs fans get excited when we get a good side together, justifiably given our history but IMO last year was our chance and quite frankly we blew it. I think we need to recognise that we just have not had the superstars that Geelong and St K have had and we have had to rely on our second tier players out playing everybody else.
Don’t think we will drop straight to the bottom like people are predicting (Higgins and Ward are class players who have been 50% fit this season) but I suspect we will be battling it out for spots at the bottom of the 8 (perhaps along with St K and Geel) next copule of seasons which IMO would be a good result.
August 26th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Bob and Jermayn, my issue is not with where you guys personally think the Dogs list is at…we all have our own opinions. You guys probably think i am over selling it where i think you guys are severely under rating it. My issue is with the criteria that Jermayn has invented for this so called ‘window of opportunity’. The claim is that because 12 players are 28 plus that the opportunity of a premiership is done and dusted…what a load of s***.
Of the 12 players mentioned 6 of them have hardly fired a shot in 2010. Johnson, Eagleton, Hahn, Gilbee, Hargrave and Murphy (throw in Aker and that makes 7)have all battled injury and form issues. At their best they were all walk up starters in the best 22 but none of them are anymore.
The other 6 are all in career best form. Lake will be the AA full back, Morris wouldn’t be that far behind, Hudson has beaten every ruckman that has come his way (including Sandilands)and will finish top 3 in the B&F, Boyd is averaging 30 possies and 5 tackles per game,Gia is as consistent as ever and Hall has kicked more goals then any other of the 600 listed AFL Players bar one. What has age got to do with the form of these guys??? and what evidence is there to suggest they can’t all do it again for 2 or 3 more years??? Boyd, Morris and Hudson were all rookies who came in late, their bodies are not as ravaged as those who have been at it since they were 18. Hall has had a year off and looks as fit, strong and focused as he has been at any stage of his career.
What Jermayn has failed to acknowledge is that those 18 u/25 players that he is going to ‘take my word on’ have been as big a driver as any players in pushing the Dogs to a top 4 birth.You guys may be right, the 2010 season might be gone but these kids are bloody good and will drive this team for the next decade.
Question for you Jermayn, given that Ablett has as much chance of going to the GC as Harbrow and given the fact that Chapman, Corey, Enright, Rooke, Ling, Ottens, Mooney, Podsiadly, Scarlett, Hunt, Milburn and Wojcinski are all on the wrong side of that dreaded age of 28 where exactly is the Cats Premiership window at??? I mean this season they have lost to Collingwood, St,Kilda, Fremantle, Carlton and Adelaide…surely that fits the criteria of your ‘premiership window’ being slammed shut…
August 27th, 2010 at 8:59 am
@Deano, Do you seriously think the 18 u/25 players are capable of taking you to premiership glory? If so I think you are one of the few…
Two things:
1) They know beyond this year or next, their window is gone and remember they have won several premierships already….
2) They are running into solid form at the right end of the season unlike the Dogs who have currently are NOT in good form.
Jermayn´s last [type]: Fat Couch Potatoes Rant
August 27th, 2010 at 9:21 am
@Deano,
Jones, Grant, Wood, Roughead, Ward and after next year young Libba and Wallis plus whoever we get in place of Harbrow will take a few years to develop. Its very rare for young guys to suddenly develop into premiership winning players when they are 19 or 20.
Considering that they have not had much opportunity until the second half of the season- I think dogs supporters should be quite happy with the way things are going.
Agree with you about Geelong- our pathetic performance against them has only covered the cracks.