"The Reality Check" Leads To "The Trenches At Gallipoli"

[Vivian]

Yes, we do have a nucleus of decent players from which to build from but the simple fact is, we cannot keep persisting with anyone who would be ranked as a "fringe" player. We need top shelf players with a killer attitude and a set of skills to match if we want to get anywhere in this business.   

Something that did stand out to me in this recent match was that we have too many players who just don't want to keep fighting. For some, it just gets too hard so they stop chasing, shepherding, tackling etc.

A great many reasons have been put forward to explain the record defeat, but we didn't field a VFL side. We had on the park a team of AFL listed players, many of which have a few years under their belts. I saw this game differently from some of our previous record defeats from the pagan era in that the players were putting in effort. We failed to make tackles because the ball had been disposed of before the tackle could be made. I fear we are often critiquing players for poor efforts when it is more the result of the gulf in skills and ability. A gulf that no amount of effort can hope to bridge. Barker alluded to it in the press conference.

It's going to take another 2 to 3 years to build a core that can challenge for a finals spot. Anything less is overestimating the quality on our list. The only players on our list that in all seriousness could get a game with the current premiers (and there is no point comparing to anyone else) are murphy, docherty, cripps and gibbs.

Cripps is our only young player that is a genuine A grade talent. KJ is the only young tall prospect with long term potential. Outside of them, we have alot of players that are either bit part, fringe or have some potential to maybe become regular senior players but hardly world beaters. It's too early to judge the first year players but the early signs are not great.