The Passion

[LongWait]

Re: The Passion

My biggest disappointment is that our new coach has failed us on his first test. One delisting, Stack, just the one. Crikey. Another year with a team full of dead players.

How disappointing. How deflating. I'd love to see the likes of Mulligan, Addison, Gilbee, Hargrave, Hooper, Djerrkura and Moles attain or recapture AFL standard play. But it will not happen. Opportunities and resources lost and wasted again.

You've jumped the gun a bit. Final lists are not due to be lodged until 16 November, although I don't think we'll see much movement, if any.

Did you really expect the new coach to come in and insist on the immediate delisting of eight players, almost all of whom are under contract?

[1eyedog]

Re: The Passion

You've jumped the gun a bit. Final lists are not due to be lodged until 16 November, although I don't think we'll see much movement, if any.

Did you really expect the new coach to come in and insist on the immediate delisting of eight players, almost all of whom are under contract?

If only.

What a statement this would have been. Gilbee and Hargrave respectfully get to see out their contracts then are tapped on the shoulder.

[ledge]

Re: The Passion

Well a new coach would certainly want to see what he has got before he delists, and needs to look at who the club can afford to let go then look at whos in draft they might get to replace them.
So a common sense move to wait until the due diligence is done.

[Twodogs]

Re: The Passion

My biggest disappointment is that our new coach has failed us on his first test. One delisting, Stack, just the one. Crikey. Another year with a team full of dead players.

How disappointing. How deflating. I'd love to see the likes of Mulligan, Addison, Gilbee, Hargrave, Hooper, Djerrkura and Moles attain or recapture AFL standard play. But it will not happen. Opportunities and resources lost and wasted again.

Well a new coach would certainly want to see what he has got before he delists, and needs to look at who the club can afford to let go then look at whos in draft they might get to replace them.
So a common sense move to wait until the due diligence is done.

I tend to agree with ledge. The new coach will want to see how some guys us supporters have written of will respond to his methods before he gets out the axe. I still think he may make players out of Moles and Djerrkura.

I also havent given up on Hooper being able to carve out an AFL career, the kid must have something he was the joint winner of the Larke medal at the U/18 championships in 2009. With a new coach who is renowned on being a teaching coach and getting the best out of players Hooper might still be a player.

James Cuming, I see your point and agree on the merits of some of the guys you mention but like a couple of posters have metioned we have our hands tied because nearly every guy you've listed have contracts for next season and as a club we just cant afford to go pissing money up against the wall paying out multiple contracts early and then paying even more money contracting new players to replace them. Mulligan is a mystery to me though. He wasnt contracted for next year as far as I know.

[Remi Moses]

Re: The Passion

I don't disagree with the thrust of your point, just wonder how it gets managed financially given they are nearly all contracted. If you chop off 6 contracted players who are on a combined payment of a million dollars, that million dollars still counts in the salary cap even though the players have been delisted.

Exactly, you just can't dump contracted players. Someone else will go you'd think by mid Nov
Bit surprised if Mulligan and Addison are both still there.

[Mantis]

Re: The Passion

Bit surprised if Mulligan and Addison are both still there.

Addison is re-signed for next year.

[Dazza]

Re: The Passion

This year was a tough slog. Expectations were high and we failed to fire a shot. The biggest disappointment for me was our recruits that were supposed to add pace and flair to the side but in reality they did neither.

Nothing went right this year.

We were right behind the 8 ball in terms of game plan and from there it didn't get any better with injuries to key players. Once we started to play the kids and had conceeded we couldn't make the finals it made it easier for me to watch.

Pretty excited about next year though.

[KT31]

Re: The Passion

Addison is re-signed for next year.

[Ghost Dog]

Re: The Passion

This year was a tough slog. Expectations were high and we failed to fire a shot. The biggest disappointment for me was our recruits that were supposed to add pace and flair to the side but in reality they did neither.

Nothing went right this year.

We were right behind the 8 ball in terms of game plan and from there it didn't get any better with injuries to key players. Once we started to play the kids and had conceeded we couldn't make the finals it made it easier for me to watch.

Pretty excited about next year though.

Nothing? Zero percent?
Let me jog your memory.
One thing went very right and Me and my dad enjoyed every moment
For your viewing pleasure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihRjviXY5FE

[Dazza]

Re: The Passion

Nothing? Zero percent?
Let me jog your memory.
One thing went very right and Me and my dad enjoyed every moment
For your viewing pleasure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihRjviXY5FE

I really enjoyed that win. Plus our win against Richmond who had won 3 in a row prior to playing us.

[Drunken Bum]

Re: The Passion

Nothing? Zero percent?
Let me jog your memory.
One thing went very right and Me and my dad enjoyed every moment
For your viewing pleasure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihRjviXY5FE

beating the scum is great at any time.

How ordinary was the voice over guy there, seriously it almost put me to sleep surely it isn't that difficult to find someone who isn't mind numbingly boring and who doesn't detract from the whole experience of watching the highlights.

[The Underdog]

Re: The Passion

Going back to the OP, it's funny but I've often felt my love for football is running on the fumes of my childhood obsession. There's this intrinsic unexplainable thing that makes me just turn towards football despite the fact that it feels like everything is pushing me away from it. 2011 was an odd year. The ever expanding family and my work commitments which combined with my 2-3 hour daily commute span weekends, space and time meant that I just didn't go to that many games. I'm also kind of sick of this feeling from supporters that the club somehow owes success for the commitment that we give as members. The connection I felt to the club through this forum has dissipated also.
I'll continue to be a member of the club but it's becoming increasingly more of an option to step away from caring at the level that I have in the past. The fact that I can make the decision on a rational level is wierd enough.
Anyway, I like what I've seen of McCartney so far. Good luck to him.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: The Passion

It's amazing how many people felt the same about 2011. Perhaps we were all lifeless after consecutive preliminary final losses and constant disappointment. We were always a chance, but never a chance -- if that makes any kind of logical sense.

I had a few things going on a month out from the season opener, so football wasn't high on my agenda. I figured it would come back thick and fast once things got going, but it never did. Support around where we sit was quite lame too, especially in comparison with previous seasons.

I guess 2011 was the first year that I put other priorities before the Dogs. As the season progressed, I read very little on AFL/our team and missed a few games that usually I'd always attend.

Things are slowly turning. Losing Ward, the sub rule, the expansion teams and the AFL's ridiculous and incompetent rule changes still leaves me in the dark though. It frustrates me and I no longer care about anything besides our side.

The new coaching panel and changes to the club have me more interested than I would have been. I'm looking forward to the draft too. However, despite being a little upbeat, it's not like I am missing football or counting the days 'til its return. Hopefully by March I'll be a lot different.

[LostDoggy]

Re: The Passion

Not me. Admittedly, I'm a lot younger than some, and my suffering has only been going on for 29.5 years, rather than 50 plus. So I'll pay my respects to those who feel they've lost the groove. Fair enough, perhaps.

But not me. The one thing that Terry Wallace taught me in 1997 was that every year is another chance to do anything. We were in such a shit place at the end of 1996. We had no money, questions on everybody at the club, and no real chance of doing anything. Sound familiar?

Realistically, we can point at the list and say we'll finish between 9-13. I see this as our most likely result next year. But I'm 100% psyched for the season knowing that we just may get a surprise.

I didn't feel that three-in-a-row prelim losses were a downer on the future, they just reinforced my theory that my passion comes from not knowing. So every year the passion just grows. Watching every game, every contest, every shot at goal, just not knowing what's going to happen, this is what makes our game great. Its unpredictability means it's more exciting than more formulaic sports such as soccer and rugby. Ice hockey is similar in this regard, and it's what makes both sports so enriching for the spectator.

One day we'll make it. I see that as a fact. Sydney got there after 72 years. So will we. Every year I wait will just make that day all the sweeter. I had the privilege to watch the 2005 Grand Final with a Sydney Swans/ex-South Melbourne fan who'd been a Bloods nut for all of her 43 years. Suffice to say, I eagerly await my turn.

Keep the faith guys. When we do it, it'll be the journey it took that makes your guts turn, not the sight of a metal cup. We'll feel ten times better than any Carlton or Essendon fan ever did. We'll do it the hard way, and feel the achievement that comes with that.

And I do think we're on the right path to that day. So yeah, bring on 2012!