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I am sick and tired of ignorant journalists proclaiming stuff about "best list" and "unbeatable" etc when they clearly do not do their research.
The Eagles did not win last year despite having the most sensational midfield/ruck possibly ever assembled.
The fact that they didn't win was not, however, bad luck or some sort of weird anomaly. They didn't win because they had no leadership of any quality and far, far, far more importantly their list is ordinary.
Did I say ordinary? Yes I did.
Staker, Braun, Hansen, Chick, Hunter, Nicoski, Green, Gardiner, Banfield. Some reliable players, some youngsters with a lot of upside but no players that other teams might fear or even have to plan for.
Try this exercise. Pick a team from Sydney and West Coast 2005. How many from each team? I'll do it for you as the team nearly picks itself.
Crouch - Barry - C. Bolton
Wirrapanda - Glass - Kennelly
Judd - Cousins - Kerr
Davis - Hall - O'Keefe
Buchanan - O'Loughlin - Sampi
Cox, Kirk, J. Bolton
Ball, Fletcher, Embley, Williams.
Now in case you can't count, that's 13 Swans and just 9 Eagles. Think I'm being harsh? Well the unlucky players are ( in order) LRT, Stenglein, Fosdike, Schneider and Hunter....so even the next in line go 3 to 2 in favour of the Swans.
Another way of looking at this is to say that of the starting 18 just 7 would be Eagles. Seven. That's why they lost. Too many left to do too much. Staker, Gardiner etc were needed to perform at a high level because the stars were already at 100% yet the game was not won. They were found wanting.
Do you want the good news? There is little prospect that this will turn around during 2006. Where is the improvement to come from? Not saying it can't. But it not nearly as likely as improvement from Adelaide, Bulldogs, Richmond and Essendon.
And looking at the lists I can't see Syndey going in as underdogs against the Eagles at the moment.
The Eagles did not win last year despite having the most sensational midfield/ruck possibly ever assembled.
The fact that they didn't win was not, however, bad luck or some sort of weird anomaly. They didn't win because they had no leadership of any quality and far, far, far more importantly their list is ordinary.
Did I say ordinary? Yes I did.
Staker, Braun, Hansen, Chick, Hunter, Nicoski, Green, Gardiner, Banfield. Some reliable players, some youngsters with a lot of upside but no players that other teams might fear or even have to plan for.
Try this exercise. Pick a team from Sydney and West Coast 2005. How many from each team? I'll do it for you as the team nearly picks itself.
Crouch - Barry - C. Bolton
Wirrapanda - Glass - Kennelly
Judd - Cousins - Kerr
Davis - Hall - O'Keefe
Buchanan - O'Loughlin - Sampi
Cox, Kirk, J. Bolton
Ball, Fletcher, Embley, Williams.
Now in case you can't count, that's 13 Swans and just 9 Eagles. Think I'm being harsh? Well the unlucky players are ( in order) LRT, Stenglein, Fosdike, Schneider and Hunter....so even the next in line go 3 to 2 in favour of the Swans.
Another way of looking at this is to say that of the starting 18 just 7 would be Eagles. Seven. That's why they lost. Too many left to do too much. Staker, Gardiner etc were needed to perform at a high level because the stars were already at 100% yet the game was not won. They were found wanting.
Do you want the good news? There is little prospect that this will turn around during 2006. Where is the improvement to come from? Not saying it can't. But it not nearly as likely as improvement from Adelaide, Bulldogs, Richmond and Essendon.
And looking at the lists I can't see Syndey going in as underdogs against the Eagles at the moment.
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