How much more improvement can we get out of our list

[mightytiges]

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?

[letsgetiton!]

everyone on the list can still improve so i say heaps!!

[the_boy_jake]

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?

I hope so. I hope there is also a two track policy in place. Improving the more capable to a point in which you could imagine them playing in a premiership side, and improving others to a point where they are tradeable. Its heartless, but I tend to think we have been too retentive of average players for a long time.

[Ox]

Tambling and Rodan for starters.

[Razorblade]

The young kids all will/should improve.

As for older guys, i believe Simmonds will improve once he gets his fitness right.

[mightytiges]

The young kids all will/should improve.

The media hype will still centre on our 2004 draftees in particular  Tambling but IMO the real onus is on Sarge and our 2003 draftees - Gilmour, Roach, Jackson, Raines and Hartigan - to start showing something at AFL level as they enter their 3rd and in Schulz's case 4th year.   

[Razorblade]

The young kids all will/should improve.

The media hype will still centre on our 2004 draftees in particular  Tambling but IMO the real onus is on Sarge and our 2003 draftees - Gilmour, Roach, Jackson, Raines and Hartigan - to start showing something at AFL level as they enter their 3rd and in Schulz's case 4th year.   

Yes pretty much correct!

Whichever of Schulz or Tambo doesn't improve will become the new whipping boy, unfortunately!

Don't forget Moore and Foley, they are definetly year-to-year players.

[mightytiges]

Whichever of Schulz or Tambo doesn't improve will become the new whipping boy, unfortunately!

Daffy -> Bowden -> Chaffs -> Tivs -> ?

Don't forget Moore and Foley, they are definetly year-to-year players.

That's true although like new draftees I think players promoted from the rookie list get a standard 2 year contract so Foley may be safe until 2007 (unless traded) if he is indeed promoted. If Moore were to be delisted within the next 2 months then obviously I'm wrong and it's only a 1-year deal.

[Razorblade]

High draft pick whipping boy i meant!

Fiora -> Pettifer -> Schulz/Tambo

[Razorblade]

Although isn't it amazing how Frawley drafted Pettifer as a small forward, yet played him on a HBF! 

[mightytiges]

High draft pick whipping boy i meant!

Fiora -> Pettifer -> Schulz/Tambo

And going back to the early days of the draft you would chuck in Lounder, Menegola and Banik into that category as well .

Although isn't it amazing how Frawley drafted Pettifer as a small forward, yet played him on a HBF! 

Spud originally played him on a HFF. From memory he kicked 3 goals in his first game against the Swans or Saints in 2001 at the Dome. However from 2002 onwards, playing up forward for the Tiges was a nightmare under Spud's zig-zag go backwards handgrenade handball gameplan  . IIRC Pettifer only played across HB in the second half of last year. Ironically it probably saved his AFL career.

It wasn't all Spud's fault though. It appeared it took Kayne probably until late last year to get his head screwed on and his attitude right to play AFL.

[PuntRdRoar]

For improvement we have to look at all 2004 kids to make some strides again...and for Tambling, Meyer and Pattison to start trying to close the gap on Deledio- which will be hard but.... also, Daniel Jackson and Andrew Raines must improve- i think they went backwards...Roachy if he went any further backwards hed be in Tassy. My brother told me last night that we the side seemed to get itself back together in the last 2 or three weeks and he noted that Schulz whilst not getting alot of it at CHB "clearly showed clean skills and good disposal from CHB" Thats a terrific sign if true. Simmonds must improve and hopefully atleast our 1st pick in the draft will play some games and add hope. Browny will come back! Remember guys...we lost to the eagles by 3 points, Geelong by 1 point, how we lost to Carlton its anyones guess. So we have hope for improvement. 2 years ago i said we would finish last and we did, this year i predicted a bottom 4 finish and we finished 12th which was one position out, i think with a good draw we will finish in the bottom rungs of the eight- 7th or 8th for next season.

[mightytiges]

My brother told me last night that we the side seemed to get itself back together in the last 2 or three weeks and he noted that Schulz whilst not getting alot of it at CHB "clearly showed clean skills and good disposal from CHB" Thats a terrific sign if true.

I still reckon he's a forward but your brother RT was right about Schulz's form in the last few weeks.

Remember guys...we lost to the eagles by 3 points, Geelong by 1 point, how we lost to Carlton its anyones guess. So we have hope for improvement.

We also won narrowly a few times against the Hawks twice, Dogs and Brisbane so it evened out. If we had won most of our close games we would have scraped into the finals but conversely if we had lost most of them we'd be bottom 4 on par with the Bombers. The middle tier of the comp is so even that making it into the bottom 3-4 spots of the finals is nothing to write home about IMO. Once again the top 4 sides will play in the PFs. 

[Tiger Spirit]

Much of this year would have been spent getting the team back on an even keel with other well coached clubs.  At least we can be confident that we’ll now have a team that plays with greater resolve and confidence.

My feeling is that the majority of improvement for next season will have to come from the way players combine as a team, rather than individual efforts.  If it comes down to individuals showing improvement then it wouldn’t surprise me if we again finish somewhere around 12th, because no team can rely on a few to do it on their own.  And we saw how things went after Browny was injured.

You would hope that players will have learnt from this past year and be able to build on their efforts going into next year.  Whether TW can get more out of the current list will mostly depend on the approach that players have going into the 2006 season.

The coaching staff can only do so much and it’s up to the players to take some responsibility as well, because no one can do it for them.  Some don’t think that ‘culture’ has any relevance to how a team performs and whether it has success or not, but I believe it’s very relevant.  Whether its good, bad or indifferent, culture is developed, over time, by strong personalities and characters.  Over a number of years, we’ve had a very introverted list, which has mostly been content to follow standards and practices of the past, rather than having the confidence and capacity to forge a new direction.  As the list improves then we should be able to see things improve in this area, but to develop a winning culture takes time.

Each season should bring us closer to that culture and that’s what I’d be looking for from next year.  My belief is that teams and individuals progress quicker when players are selfless in their approach to playing the game, rather than focusing mainly on their own form.  And for too many years we’ve played as individuals, rather than a team.  If we can progress in this area, then players can get more out of themselves than perhaps they believe possible.  Otherwise, relying on certain individuals to carry the responsibility for any improvement may bring us undone, as it has in the past.

[harry bosch]

Are we likely to see much overall improvement over the next 2-3 years??? Even though we have a lot of improvement
from kids to look forward to we also have 9 players who turn 28 or older from next year.