Any blockheads out there? Oi! Oi!
Only one team scored more than 100 points against us.
Three of our players made the All Australian team (should have been five!).
Charlie was the Coleman Medalist.
Nine of our players kicked 10 goals or more (six last season).
Only three players took part in all 22 games.
Our oldest player, Nic Newman, is 29.
We had to play 39 players this season.
Our draw was tough.
We missed out on the 8 by percentage.
We have the measure of most of the teams who made the 8.
Charlie re-signed.
The players adapted well to the new game style and enthusiastically adopted the "how can I be a better teammate" mantra.
We challenged and overturned Crippa's unjust suspension.
We kicked 268 goals and 249 behinds in 2022 as opposed to 250 goals and 246 behinds in 2021.
Doch recovered and came back better than ever.
Hewitt was a great get.
Cerra was a great get.
TDK improved and developed.
Kennedy improved.
H and Charlie together finally mostly all season, beautiful 👌🏼
Cripps’ heart grew even bigger.
Walsh will be even better next year.
Carlton fans finally getting some exciting wins to cheer.
Voss has a bit of grunt in him, which was lacking in Teague and BB and sorely needed.
Upside is so much - I’m excited 👏🏽
....and we produced several quarters of football this year that were better than any other team in the competition
Reasons To Be Cheerful, parts I, II & III. ^^^ ;D ;D ;D
Ian Dury is sitting in Rock and Roll heaven wearing a BlueBaggers scarf... Olivia has just joined in as well.
Part IV... record membership, stable Board, real CEO, ground breaking community involvement/projects, AFLW HQ, most loyal (membership still climbed in the dark years), devoted and loudest fans... and I bet there is more...
Apart from Ed Curnow who is at the end of his career (and has been a great servant)
...every other player on our list has the potential to be better next year. ;)
We have 7 legitimate A-Graders (AA Squad this yr or last yr, or should have been)
- Cripps
- Curnow
- Saad
- Walsh
- Weitering
- McKay
- Docherty
The next rung are pretty bloody good B-Graders
- Cerra
- Hewett
- Kennedy
- Young
The "could be anything, if we can get them fit", rung have a LOT of talent
- Williams
- McGovern
- Martin
- Marchbank
- Cunnigham
The "young blokes with potential" rung, will surely give us a few players
- DeKonning
- Motlop
- Durdin
- Stocker
- Kemp
- OBrien
- Carroll
- Honey
Our "Soldiers" are OK, but probably where we need to improve - but have all shown something at times this year
- Silvagni
- Fisher
- Newman
- Setterfield
- Owies
- Cottrell
- Pittonet
- Boyd
That's 32 players who we can build around.
A bit of luck, a bit of tinkering at the edges, and we have a VERY bright future!!
Think about this....
1 Geelong - beat us up, but I don't think they are that much better than us, with many older players ready to fold. We'll be far more ready next time.
2 Melbourne - with 21 of their 23 premiership players in, we had them all but beaten with a patchwork midfield
3 Sydney - took them apart with a 9-goal quarter and no Harry
4 Collingwood - game 1, no Harry and Weiters, and if the game goes for 1 more minute we win despite being 20 pts down twice in the last quarter
- game 2, 3 of our front line midfielders out, 8-goal shellacking in one quarter, only lack of composure cost us
5 Fremantle - game 1, caught us on the hop with loss of Pittonet
- game 2 owned them at contested footy and never looked like losing
6 Brisbane - probably our worst game for the year, 10 goals down at 3/4 time - then go crazy and get within 15 points with 3 mins to go
7 Richmond - game 1 blew them away in the last quarter 7 goals to 1
- game 2 gave them a 6 goal start then got to within a kick (except for the damn ARC!) after being 27 points down halfway through the last
8 Western Bulldogs - blew them away in the first half
Point being, there is more than enough evidence to suggest we can beat ABSOLUTELY EVERY OTHER TEAM. And when we do get on a roll, we are almost impossible to stop.
I can't wait for 2023. This time last year, we didn't even have a coach.
Five blokes could have made AA yet we didn't make finals. Suggests that our list falls away rapidly. Too much done by too few.
Apart from Ed Curnow who is at the end of his career (and has been a great servant)
...every other player on our list has the potential to be better next year. ;)
even ed curnow can improve on his 2022.
Getting a game would be a great start!
We finished the season with:
- A consecutive Coleman Medalist
- improved ladder position
- ability to allow a couple of youngsters to develop in the 2's
- a positive profile in the media
- media performances by coaches and club officials that were professional. Losing that cringeworthy look
- a good look at our list under duress
- an understanding of what we're lacking and where our weaknesses lie. Individually and as a team
- a degree of respect from most if not all teams as we showcased our best
- the most heart-warming return of our past skipper. Who is soon to be a dad!
- a rejuvenated skipper back to his beastly best
- a team that has some cohesion and signs of team-firstness
- a large, loud, proud, passionate supporter base
Go Blues