Back at the end of 2008 everyone thought we were flying high, we had Palmer the rising star, and we went into the trade period thinking we finally had the right people in there making the decisions.
However fast forward a few years and we can see that many of their choices have failed in the short term. Our midfield is in a shambles, and would be more so if the Barlow miracle never eventuated. The decision to pick Hill over Rich hasn't paid off, with Rich having the better 3 seasons so far including winning the rising star.
The poorest decision in my mind though is picking Suban over Mitch Robinson. Suban was touted as a small defender/midfielder yet hasn't come on at all since his first season, pretty much like Hill.
People can "laugh" about Robinsons disposal, goal kicking, etc, but he is a starting midfielder in a top 4 side, going against the likes of ball hogs like Judd, Murphy and Gibbs. And against us he got 29 disposals whilst Suban racked up a nice 8, whilst playing as a defender and where the ball was for the majority of the game.
Not only did he get a lot more disposals than Suban he is the EXACT type of midfielder we need right now. Someone who goes to the ball hard and tries to win it regardless of how the team is going. With Suban he follows the teams pulse, if the team is down, he is down.
Unlike Hill and Suban, Robinson has shown clear improvement every season, you know he's going to get better. Meanwhile people will give every excuse in the book as to why Hill and Suban aren't performing. To my eye you just have to look at them, they don't really care, and they don't train hard enough.
The funniest thing to me though is people like Bradybunch and ClayGravy who from 2008 on have laughed that if I was in control and we chose Robinson just how much worse off we would be. Yeah, it just proves who knows footballers and who does not I think.
However fast forward a few years and we can see that many of their choices have failed in the short term. Our midfield is in a shambles, and would be more so if the Barlow miracle never eventuated. The decision to pick Hill over Rich hasn't paid off, with Rich having the better 3 seasons so far including winning the rising star.
The poorest decision in my mind though is picking Suban over Mitch Robinson. Suban was touted as a small defender/midfielder yet hasn't come on at all since his first season, pretty much like Hill.
People can "laugh" about Robinsons disposal, goal kicking, etc, but he is a starting midfielder in a top 4 side, going against the likes of ball hogs like Judd, Murphy and Gibbs. And against us he got 29 disposals whilst Suban racked up a nice 8, whilst playing as a defender and where the ball was for the majority of the game.
Not only did he get a lot more disposals than Suban he is the EXACT type of midfielder we need right now. Someone who goes to the ball hard and tries to win it regardless of how the team is going. With Suban he follows the teams pulse, if the team is down, he is down.
Unlike Hill and Suban, Robinson has shown clear improvement every season, you know he's going to get better. Meanwhile people will give every excuse in the book as to why Hill and Suban aren't performing. To my eye you just have to look at them, they don't really care, and they don't train hard enough.
The funniest thing to me though is people like Bradybunch and ClayGravy who from 2008 on have laughed that if I was in control and we chose Robinson just how much worse off we would be. Yeah, it just proves who knows footballers and who does not I think.
