2010 Collingwood Grand Final Replay team
B: 5 Nick Maxwell (c) 16 Nathan Brown 34 Alan Toovey
HB: 8 Harry O'Brien 20 Ben Reid 39 Heath Shaw
C: 21 Sharrod Wellingham 36 Dane Swan 26 Ben Johnson
HF: 4 Alan Didak 32 Travis Cloke 12 Luke Ball
F: 22 Steele Sidebottom 31 Chris Dawes 17 Dayne Beams
Foll: 18 Darren Jolly 10 Scott Pendlebury 13 Dale Thomas
Int: 47 Jarryd Blair 30 Brent Macaffer 6 Tyson Goldsack
15 Leigh Brown
The team we played against Essendon, take 1. Just the players who played in the 2010 GF, with gaps like broken teeth for those who have moved on.
B: 5 Nick Maxwell ... 34 Alan Toovey
HB: 8 Heritier Lumumba ... ...
C: ... 36 Dane Swan ...
HF: ... 32 Travis Cloke 12 Luke Ball
F: 22 Steele Sidebottom ... 17 Dayne Beams
Foll: ... 10 Scott Pendlebury ...
Int: 47 Jarryd Blair 30 Brent Macaffer 6 Tyson Goldsack
...
Note that we are missing 3 of 5 from the spine (FB, CHB, FF).
Note that Maxwell is not named as a key-position player.
Let's try to name some near like-for-like subs.
B: 5 Nick Maxwell Jack Frost 34 Alan Toovey
HB: 8 Heritier Lumumba ... ...
C: Paul Seedsman 36 Dane Swan Marley Williams
HF: ... 32 Travis Cloke 12 Luke Ball
F: 22 Steele Sidebottom ... 17 Dayne Beams
Foll: Jarrod Witts 10 Scott Pendlebury Josh Thomas
Int: 47 Jarryd Blair 30 Brent Macaffer 6 Tyson Goldsack
Jesse White
Substitutions Jack Frost Nathan Brown Marley Williams Ben Johnson Jesse White Leigh Brown Paul Seedsman Sharrod Wellingham Jarrod Witts Darren Jolly Josh Thomas Dale Thomas
Jack Frost must be far less experienced than Nathan Brown, but, for all that, a reasonable replacement. Marley Williams, I think, is just about exactly Ben Johnson, albeit less experienced. The Jesse White who came to Collingwood would have been rated by most pundits as about equivalent to Leigh Brown (perhaps less nasty, but a better genuine footballer and athlete, but lacking Brown's ability to pinch-hit in defence). The remaining three are vastly inferior to the players they replace, but (a) I have few choices and (b) they have more upside.
While I think of it, here's a small digression.
I don't know too much about what goes on in football clubs, and, despite Buckley speaking to me most weeks, that's not really different when it comes to the Pies. However, as it played out at the time, the impression I had was that Dawes left because he thought that Q Lynch was brought in to replace him.
In hindsight, and if it's true, that was a major miscalculation which cost both Dawes and the Pies dearly. If anything, Lynch was brought in to replace Brown, the universal wisdom (outside Collingwood) being that you like to play 3 (preferably mobile) talls down front.
Arguably, Lynch had many characteristics that might have made subscribers to the Leigh Brown Theory salivate.
So we still have to cover
Ben Reid
Heath Shaw
Alan Didak
Chris Dawes
And here's what's swimming at the shallow end of the gene pool. (I'm probably being a bit unfair to Kennedy, but can anyone describe him as like-for-like on any reckoning for any of the missing candidates?)
Taylor Adams Ben Kennedy Clinton Young Tom Langdon
So, go ahead, pick your replacements. The problem becomes blindingly clear. When you strip away the crap about these are young players with plenty of future, the talent that left can't be recovered, we have to rebuild to move forward, injuries, in the final wash-up, after all is said and done, WE ARE STILL TWO TALLS SHORT!!
So the ommission of Keeffe seems a very strange decision, especially as he was named as one of the emergencies. That last sentence sounded eerily familiar. Now where could I have read something similar? Oh, here it is, from my notes on the Fremantle game in round 1 this year (what was similar about that?):
My newspaper had Keeffe as an emergency. It's not clear why Frost was chosen ahead of him...
So, am I the only one who thinks an out-of-form Keeffe is a better bet than a midget with potential?
Have we no other fit tall defenders? Perhaps not.
16 Brown, Nathan 93 25yr 7mth 195cm 101kg 45 Frost, Jack (R) 18 22yr 4mth 194cm 89kg 44 Gault, Corey (R) 0 21yr 8mth 198cm 94kg 23 Keeffe, Lachlan 34 24yr 3mth 204cm 102kg 5 Maxwell, Nick 208 31yr 1mth 193cm 93kg 20 Reid, Ben 95 25yr 2mth 195cm 102kg 41 Langdon, Tom 15 20yr 1mth 191cm 81kg
On paper, Langdon is thereabouts, but then so is Maxwell (whom we have since lost forever); and Maxwell wasn't enough - because he had to cover a tall defender (say, Brown) and himself. He was barely able to play the role of Maxwell, especially after he went down with injury, yet he played out the game, apparently on one leg. It might have been more humane to just send him for treatment. It would hardly have had a significant affect on the result. It's not that Maxwell's contribution was so small or lacked courage, but the rest of the team was playing such crap, what was the point?
Nevertheless, Langdon is no Keeffe, not in height, not in weight, not in experience. In the end, Langdon played in defence. But I'm getting off-track as usual.
After a minor reshuffle, we probably end like this:
B: Tom Langdon Jack Frost Alan Toovey
HB: Heritier Lumumba Nick Maxwell Marley Williams
C: Paul Seedsman Dayne Beams Clinton Young
HF: Ben Kennedy Travis Cloke Luke Ball
F: Steele Sidebottom Jesse White Dane Swan
Foll: Jarrod Witts Scott Pendlebury Josh Thomas
Int: Jarryd Blair Brent Macaffer Tyson Goldsack
Taylor Adams
There's not really much point in this last line-up except that I wanted to make the point that if you are going into a game undersized in defence and inexperienced as well, you really ought to be giving the guys down back as much injection of what's missing as possible. So I've put H down to defence. He may prefer to play on the wing, but these are desperate times. I think I might also have played Goldsack in defence as an extra defender and taken Kennedy to the bench.
Of course, this then exposes the fact that we are missing Didak/Elliott from the forward line. We're robbing Peter to pay Paul because ultimately we're undermanned.
I guess the first lesson is that the team we fielded was so below our premiership team that we should hardly be surprised we got creamed.
That might be considered the past. What of the future? Unfortunately, the news is not much better. And it got worse since I wrote the first line because back then I thought that Maxwell was still available this year.
I want to consider two futures: this year and beyond.
This year
The major problem for this year is where do we play Reid on his return? It seems that he must go down back. When planning a team, I, like several coaches, always start with defence. I'm also going to assume the best.
B: Jack Frost Ben Reid Alan Toovey
HB: Marley Williams Lachlan Keeffe Alex Fasolo
C: Heritier Lumumba Dayne Beams Paul Seedsman
HF: Jamie Elliott Travis Cloke Luke Ball
F: Steele Sidebottom Jesse White Dane Swan
Foll: Jarrod Witts Scott Pendlebury Josh Thomas
Int: Jarryd Blair Brent Macaffer Tyson Goldsack
Q Lynch
In:
Ben Reid
Lachlan Keeffe
Alex Fasolo
Jamie Elliott
Q Lynch
Out:
Clinton Young
Ben Kennedy
Tom Langdon
Taylor Adams
Nick Maxwell (ret)
Emergencies:
Timothy Broomhead, Brodie Grundy, Sam Dwyer, Ben Sinclair
With Reid, Elliott and Fasolo back in the team, we look substantially better: still a long way off a premiership team, but realistically top 8. I guess which three to play out of Witts, Grundy, White and Lynch depends on form and availability.
In the 2011 GF, Nathan Brown was missing, replaced by Chris Tarrant. It was when we had Chris Tarrant, Nathan Brown and Ben Reid that we were able to send Reid forward. It wasn't necessary in 2011 since we still had Chris Dawes. I suspect we will not be able to afford Reid forward until Nathan Brown returns - which will not be this year.
We also had the Krak.
Beyond
It's sobering to realise how far we've fallen. Can we turn it around quickly like Port Adelaide? I can't see it. Who has had a good year? Pendlebury. He's now favourite for the Brownlow. Maybe that should be our plan for the rest of the year: kick it to Pendles.
I think Elliott has had a terrific year. He's certainly been entertaining. Cloke should have played most of his games under an assumed name.
Frost has been good. He's made mistakes, but he's a rookie. I think he can only come back better next year.
Fasolo showed that he can hold down a defender's position and, more importantly (in my view), he can take the kick-ins.
Keeffe had a mixed year, but showed that he can also be trusted to kick the ball back in.
Beams took a while, but I think we can look for a good 2015 from him. Sidebottom had some very good games; I don't think he played a bad game, but he was sometimes quieter. Williams played solidly.
Ball must be near to retiring.
Broomhead played two games. He looked like a player against the Bulldogs. I can't remember his other game.
Is there a place for any of these if the rest of the team is up and about: Young, Langdon, Adams, Clarke?
No ruckman staked a claim on the position.
The wrap
As the article played out, I think I lost my way. However, I think some truths emerged.
We've been living 2014 under the delusion of adequacy. In fact, we've been badly undermanned for most games due to injury. And the cattle we have been able to field are almost all a long way from their best. Perhaps we won games because the opposition were bluffed. Perhaps my first assessment after round 1 was remarkably prescient: "about a mid-table VFL team".
If 2015 is to offer us any hope, then we need to find players to take on the roles previously occupied by a stellar list: Maxwell, Wellingham, Heath Shaw (he played well in the premiership team), Didak, Dawes, Dale Thomas, Jolly, Leigh Brown, Krakouer.
Of course, after a dry summer, 2014 will be forgotten. We will return like an addict, desperate for a hit, irrespective of quality. We will be seduced by the first footballer who can trot past. It is the annual contract between supporters and their club. Otherwise, how could the clubs get them to fork out for a membership for another year?
The clubs are in the business of selling dreams; the fans are their eager customers.
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