At the risk of getting way too far ahead of myself, if we were to fall into a place in the 8, due to our doing, or through other results, we could be in a fairly strong place in terms of on field soldiers. Week 1 is Friday Sept 2 ...... almost four weeks away. In that time, Cripps has probobly had a good rest and is ready to go, as will Kennedy and Hewett. Marchbank and Pittonet will have a few games under their belt (Marchy can play in the twos on the bye weekend!) Williams and Boyd should be ready as might Newman.
Make the first week in September and we could have a fairly strong squad! (Then all we need to do is to play to our full potential.....almost harder than over coming some of the injuries!!)
You failed to take into account the injuries we get between now and then.
One of Weiters or Young will go down.
Charlie is due for an injury.
Walsh will miss and SOS will do a shoulder and hurt our versatility.
Everytime we get some back, others pass them on the way out the door.
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Glass half full
Glass half empty
The title of this thread is "Looking Ahead", but it seems to be only for this season. Finals in the next few weeks will be a good experience and will do us no harm, on the fairly strict proviso that they don't create the illusion of proximity. I think problems have been discovered in the last few weeks that need resolving in the off season. We are still a way off playing 22 weeks of consistent good footy. Voss will need to add layers beyond contested ball. When it works, it works a treat. But either the players are stuffed towards the end of the season, or we've been found out. When it doesn't work, it's a big problem.
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Glass half full
Glass half empty
Qué será, será
Whilst I think it will be a disappointing end to the year, I also believe the foundations have be laid to springboard us into 2023. It has been a very good year, it would have been nice to play a final but in my view it's not going to happen given our form right now. Missing the finals will sting the group no end and I expect a self driven brutal pre season resulting in a more solid and consistent year in 2023.