Odessa
Well-known member
You're dead right, there is a cycle there. Maybe more an unfulfilled promise than a cycle. And lets be honest the cycle stops if we get a good side together and finally have some happy finals footy moments.
But look at the alternative approach - every time our club has had a war chest, we have blown it. Period. We are just not that kind of club. We blew it when we merged, we blew it 2017/18 as well. We blew it going after Adam Blair. When we target former rep veterans and play boring risk averse footy -- it sucks and it never works.. We'll get as high as ninth for a season if we're lucky and it will fizzze out.
In general we have swung too far in either extreme since 2013. We are either investing 3 seasons in losing games by playing kids to have those main prospects poached anyway, or paying overs for players aren't good enough to do it for big clubs anymore. It needs a balance, and you need to stick to that.
I think this is the first season in ages where I've seen a truly balanced WT roster. Veterans, leaders, rookie talent, club stalwarts, origin halves. A lot of that balance is down to the fact we've signed players that wouldn't play for Madge here would agree to play for Benji. Lots of players heading into this season with more than 50 games played together as a team, and they're still all under 25. That's the big picture for me... In general, our roster in wayyyy better shape than it was in late 2022 when this all kicked off.
I just pray to god it really comes together this year and we all get the good season we all deserve. If we get that we'll be here talking about much more exciting stuff.
Having a War Chest means your doing a Sh!t job
All the top clubs never have War Chest only the losers when players walk out and your recruitment and retention plan is only for the next 48 hours