All three stole [um, no. Took advantage of. Sure] from us and went to other clubs for less and played better
Hopefully, as part of Gus & Co's post-season navel-gazing sessions (
"Honesty in self appraisal is crucial." - Gus) they will reflect on why, exactly, the Bulldogs have become a club where talent goes to die, and then resurges once they've moved to another club.
"We" have fallen into the trap of constantly blaming the players, year after year, (poor roster this, not enough talent that, yada yada yada). Yeah, the roster might not have always been the strongest and they have contributed (or not contributed), but it has never been bottom 4. Even this one should be performing better than it is. That it isn't is wholly on the Club, Coach, and the Culture we have allowed (one of mediocrity).
Gus in particular has been trotting this one out heavily for most of this season, especially once Ciraldo started needing air cover to shield him from HIS own poor performances (preparation, team selections, tactics, bench rotations, attention to detail).
Do we need a full overhaul of junior development? Yes! Absolutely!
Is Gus the right man to do that? Yes!
Should we ignore the top level while we're waiting for that overhaul to be done and for the rewards to start flowing? Hell No!
We need a Head Coach and a competent team of assistants that can deliver for the top grades. Is Ciraldo that guy? Geez I hope so.
We will likely know during the trials, where we get to see if they actually did any hard work over the pre-season, or if (like Barrett did the pre-season before he was "marched") they just faffed around without a clue. I cannot say I am not very concerned given what he shown and delivered to date.
We have to spend 95% of the cap. We have money to spend. We cannot pay massive overs on long deals (like previous "regimes" did) that leads to being unable to unload duds without carrying excessive freight for them playing at other teams, but...
...there is no reason we cannot assemble a "money ball" group of professionals that can compete (even if only in the middle of the comp - maybe squeeze into the 8) and build a culture that is worthy of the name: "Bulldogs", at least until a batch of highly talented juniors can be developed and brought through to challenge for top 4 and titles on a consistent basis.
We already have quite a number of "good"/talented players. That they cannot be coached to perform as an effective team is
all on the Head Coach.
Until that is acknowledged (
"Honesty in self appraisal is crucial." - Gus) and fixed, we ain't going anywhere except backwards. It really doesn't matter who is recruited, we will just make them worse.
