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“Suffering really is the pathway to success” said Alastair Clarkson before the Hawthorn Football Club walked out in front of 107-thousand people to win the 2013 grand final.
The suffering Clarkson was talking about is the agonising 2012 loss to the Sydney Swans just 12 months before.
The 12-month wait for a chance at redemption. The Hawks got it.
Will Ross Lyon’s Dockers get a chance to redeem themselves in 2013?
Ross Lyon is a genius, but can his defensive schemes win the purple haze the biggest prize of all?
If the Dockers kicked straight in the grand final, the season 2013 narrative could’ve been a whole lot different.
Both teams had twenty-two shots at goal. I often wonder if the Dockers had played more than three games at the ‘G’ would it have made a difference?
It’s no secret that the Dockers have been chasing a big forward in the past few years. Travis Cloke, Jack Riewoldt, James Podsiadly, ‘Buddy’ and even Cats swingman Harry Taylor were all on the Dockers hit list.
Matthew Pavlich has been a superstar, if I had a dollar for every time he has been called a superstar you’d be writing on my website right now. But is he still?
Chris Mayne is one of the best defensive forwards in the league, but he too has played taller than need be.
Last season they were ranked 12th in both scores for and marks inside-50.
To rectify this, the Dockers recruited Scott Gumbleton. Unfortunately for the former Bomber, the injury curse has struck again. If he can get back on the park he and Melbourne recruit Colin Sylvia will add necessary punch to that forward line.
Leading goal kicker from last year Michael Walters will grow in confidence after his brilliant grand final performance and Hayden Ballantyne should bury those grand finals yips early on in the season.
If the recruits work out, Ross Lyon has a few more weapons to tinker with making the forward line more potent.
Of the things that haven’t changed for Freo, Aaron Sandilands hasn’t gotten any shorter; When Sandilands is fit he and Zac Clarke form a superior ruck tandem.
Fremantle boast the AFL’s future prototype midfielder. Nathan Fyfe, David Mundy and Michael Barlow are all 190 plus cm midfielders who can get there own footy on the ground. They all averaged 25 possessions a game and use it well.
Ryan Crowley besides being a red-hot favourite with Hayden Ballantyne for most hated player in the league is the best tagger in the game.
The outside run from Steven Hill and Tendai Mzungu was commanding, as too was Danyle Pearce in his first year since switching over from Port Adelaide.
When Anthony Morabito returns he will not shrink the midfield size at all.
Defensively Ross Lyon’s players must sleep well at night.
When Golden Fist contender Luke McPharlin is on he can go with any forward and Zac Dawson must buy Ross Lyon’s coffee everyday as a thank you for reviving his career.
Michael Johnson is a superstar and must be one of the most underrated players in the league.
Small defenders Paul Duffield and Nick Suban are beautiful users of the ball coming out of defence.
Even I think I could be a great defender in Lyon’s system (midfielders flooding back to help).
The Dockers may take a little time to get rolling; a shorter pre-season and waiting for the recruits to fit into the structure will take time.
It’ll be all about finishing top-2 and securing that home final for another crack at the big dance.
They are the oldest list in the league; they are ready-made for another crack at it.
Even if they hadn’t changed their list, they’d be ready again. The recruits aren’t the big names they were after but they should have no problem fitting into the purple haze.
A chip on your shoulder is a serious piece of arsenal to call upon when needed.
Just how much have they suffered?
Bring on one of the most exciting seasons in AFL history
So this is the end of the Lad-View for 2014, thank god I called it Lad-View because it may very well end up as wrong as it sounds.
How does your ladder/top eight go?
Lad-View recap
1: Fremantle
2: Hawthorn
3: Sydney
4: Geelong
5: West Coast
6: Essendon
7: North Melbourne
8: Richmond
9: Collingwood
10: Port Adelaide
11: Carlton
12: Adelaide
13: Gold Coast
14: Western Bulldogs
15: Brisbane
16: GWS
17: Melbourne
18: St Kilda
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