Whilst we were winning in the second half of the season, it was all through playing no pressure, nothing to lose football. I kept having this feeling that we were always punching above our weight. This is why I believe that we still have too few stars or influential players and too many in our supporting cast.
Rance, Miles and Ellis are probably the only ones IMO who have genuinely moved from the supporting cast into the star group this season.
Try this little test.....Put yourself in an opposition supporters shoes and go through our entire list and imagine how you would feel if each individual player was listed as injured on the weekend your team was playing the Tigers.
If its a "meh..", then they are a supporting cast player. If its a "You Beauty!" Then they are a star or least a very important player in our team.
The only players who would get a "You Beauty!" from me would be the following..
Cotchin
Riewoldt
Ellis
Maric
Miles
Rance
Martin
Deledio
Until this list extends beyond 12, I cannot see how we will experience sustained finals success.
As a benchmark, I did the same test with the Swans and came up with a total list of 14 players whom I would be really pleased to see out if we played them.