WA - It's not about making excuses but rather not making rash decisions which hurt our chances of success. We can't afford to take chances. Any time we have tried our luck and tried to trade for success we have failed. Every time we have tried to take short cuts or demand immediate rewards we have failed.
The last era when we were successful we traded and bought our way to multiple flags. Anything other than success was not tolerated by the administration or supporters. The system changed. We didn't. 30 years later, multiple coaches, a truckload a crap and only 2 finals appearances later we have finally learnt that impatience and demanding immediate success only leads us down the same well worn path of misery. We have finally changed. We are taking no shortcuts and creating our own success.
How?! - From the gound up WAT. By spending the same money we used to when buying established players from other teams and states, on finding talented kids and developing them. Collingwood, Geelong, WC, Hawthorn and even stinkin' Carlton have done this for years while we have siad we were doing it but instead we had a part time recruiter, no development coach and a senior coach who was absent during training when our talent should have been educated.
It's one thing to demand success and point the finger at those who don't as excuse makers but it's another to say that we are happy with mediocrity and failure. I'm sick of losing, tired of never making the finals and fed-up with failure. We all want the same thing but some of us are willing to wait it out more than others.
Surely you can see we are on th ebrink now. We are close but we are not a flag contender yet. We should make the finals this year but we are no where near strong enough for a claim on the top 4. The growth of players like Vickery, Grimes, Rance, Batchelor, Cotchin, Martin and Houli give us hope but we need more. We need more development. We need more from more.
No one is making excuses. We are just trying to be realistic.
