GuyWhoLikesSport

As we get closer to the season, it’s useful to remind myself who the good players are and where they play. This exercise does that. It’s like watching one of those 15-minute Severance recaps before season two, only to realise you didn’t need it because the show spent most of the season sniffing its own farts instead of advancing the plot.  So, what is the exercise?   I’ve gone through every list and picked out just the high-end talent. I have identified the superstars, stars, and the potential stars and given each tier of player a certain number of points.   From there, I’ve stacked teams by total points to tier premiership…

Tactically, Michael Voss is not a brilliant coach. He might not even be a good one. He’s stuck in an era of footy that doesn’t exist anymore.  He has pure ruckmen, pure key defenders, pure key forwards. He likes round pegs to fit into round holes and he’s not interested in fashioning different shaped holes for different kinds of players to fit into.  I assume that his whiteboard looks exactly like your school footy coach’s whiteboard and there is no acknowledgement of the new roles that have come to define the game.  Role flexibility is like BDSM to him. It’s just something people on the internet do.  His success as a coach to this point, however modest,…

The Sydney Swans are big game hunters.   They kind of embody the city in that way.   They want stars, glitz and glamour. Often, they want to import it.   They’re like the Lakers.   Sure, they home grow talent, but when they’re looking for a cherry on top, since the mid 90s they’ve gone with Demott Brereton, Tony Lockett, Barry Hall, Buddy Franklin, and now Charlie Curnow.  While they’ve not always turned into premiership glory, each of Lockett, Hall, and Franklin were stars for the Swans and made the Swans a name brand in the AFL.  But with Curnow, my fear is that they’re barking up the wrong tree. This player is not Lockett or Franklin. He’s far closer to the broken…