Wallace was able to squeeze much improvement our of the likes of Pettifer, Newman and Hyde pre-head clash plus stuck Tuck in the midfield. Apart from Lids and our other first round 2004 picks who'll take a couple of years longer than Lids to develop, do you reckon Terry will be able to squeeze much more out of our current list to take the next step in 2006?
If taking the next step means playing finals next year, we could be setting ourselves up to be disappointed. Nothing’s impossible, but you get the feeling that a lot would have to go our way for that to happen in 2006.
Even if TW can get some further improvement out of the current list, it’s hard to see that alone being enough to take us to the next step. At this stage, it doesn’t look like there will be too many list changes leading into next year and we don’t know how Browny will come back from his injury.
Going the next step means that a number of players would have to find another gear, and I don’t know if we have enough players who will do that, which makes us predictable, in one sense. Within reason, we know what to expect from players who are 28+. What we can expect from those under 21 is a lot more hit and miss. Even if some of them can maintain some good form throughout the season, to expect 18-21 y.o. players to be consistent and have a major impact at this stage of their careers is expecting a lot. And we have that missing age bracket in between, which could make all the difference.
So, for me, the next 2-3 years is more important from a development point of view and building the foundations for the future. Ladder position probably determines whether a team has improved or not, but it doesn’t always tell the real story and, given where our list is at, it shouldn’t really matter where we finish in 2006.
