Chris Grant's injury is an interesting challenge for us. Let's face it, season 2007 will be Chris's last and we are going to have to get used to not having him around. As alluded to in other threads, the next few weeks will be a crucial stage in the development of Cam White. In a kinder injury-free universe, it would also have given Tom Williams a chance to gain some senior experience. It still could.
Losing one of your champions is rarely seemless, and it is all about timing the development of your young talent to fill the void. I think that the Brisbane Lions did it well in the late 90s. Their period of sustained success followed retirements of some of their best players - Roger Merrett, Craig Lambert, Magic McLean, Richard Champion...We have lost Chris for ten weeks, but fairly soon we will have lost him for good. For the first time that I can recall, the Bulldogs list has an imposing feel about it. Although it would be great to drink that premiership port this year, I still feel as though we are a work in progress. Sadly, Chris Grant will not be a part of what could become the greatest era in our club's history. Do we continue to tweak our team with an eye to what could be an impending period of sustained success? At least whilst Grant is injured, do we gamble and promote a player like Tom Williams out of the blue, or is this really the domain of a struggling side that has no other option?
Play it safe or take a risk???