09-18-2020, 01:59 AM
(09-18-2020, 12:07 AM)Pratty link Wrote:It's not about Bolton, anymore. I too think the young guys' confidence is shot from the early days. Times have changed. 18 months older is a big difference in maturity.
If we're not going to play these younger guys in bigger roles, then why do we still have them on our list and why would we keep them past tomorrow's final game?
I think the next step for Teague now is to balance the winning with exposing some younger guys into bigger roles with more responsibility. I don't say that for the sake of it. We're not winning games of footy so think that's our cue to change it up a bit. I'm disappointed Teague hasn't. He's stayed loyal to the structure and senior players. That's ok to a degree. His next challenge is to get more our of the fringe types.
This idea that the confidence of Dow, O'Brien etc. is shot from the early days is dubious IMO. Nobody expected Dow to go h2h with Dangerfield etc. and come away with the points. He and the others were clearly there to learn, and the ethos was to have all the kids play and grow together. Also notwithstanding the expected human behavior that we tend to feel better about ourselves when we are included rather than excluded. Any loss of confidence is likely to be from Dow, OBrien etc twiddling their thumbs for a year not getting games rather than anything that came before. The players and coaches are in constant dialogue, the players have mouths, the leadership group and coaches have ears, they have eyes - there are numerous ways in which a loss of confidence in a youngster could be detected and addressed.
IMO, the last 15 or 16 months is basically coitus interruptus, and the club has potentially caused itself a few headaches. This is a season which will not be taken seriously when history is written. It would have been the perfect season to play kids en masse. Instead, the club decided that short term wins were what is needed, and selling memberships to folks who couldn't really use them was the go, so Liddle could show he was good at boosting revenue. Well, that's fine - mission accomplished. What happens now ? The club is expected to play finals next season, and having at least two if not more oldies depart, we will be forced to play kids who are essentially at the same level of football development they were last year. The club cannot have its cake and eat it too. If you want wins, you can't play kids en masse, and if you want development, you have to sacrifice a few wins, which in a nothing season, would have been a better option.
There is no certainty that Dow O'Brien and all the rest have what it takes - playing them in one or two games proves nothing. It should hardly surprise that they showed little when given a recall. Finding out next season whether they have it or not is almost too late IMO.