Rohan in the Age today has an article about Geelong's Brent Prismall and how some good footballers miss out on success due to bad timing like not being able to break into a gun side. He also mentions a few classic Richmond recruiting decisions of the past 30 years
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Just leading on from it, who do you OERites think over the years were unlucky to miss out a flag?
And the opposite - who were just in the right place at the right time to play in a premiership?
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No time to waste
Rohan Connolly | August 16, 2008
GOOD player. Bad timing. It's a situation not uncommon to elite level sport, where a talented individual's dreams can be stymied by the presence of so many stars around them.
The AFL continues to turn out its own hard-luck stories, of which Brent Prismall is merely the latest. Despite his obvious abilities he is struggling to find a permanent home in a Geelong line-up that continues to raise the bar of excellence.
While there's a school of thought that it's far easier to be a good player in a great side than a poor one, it's not the case if you can't force your way into the team to begin with. And that's been the story for many players denied their opportunity by a glut of talent.
The powerhouse that was Richmond in the early 1970s boasted several, most notably big man Graham Teasdale, a sensation in the Tigers' under-19s, but who graduated to senior level with the club in the middle of three successive grand final appearances that would deliver back-to-back premierships.
He, along with two teammates with similar predicaments, Brian Roberts and Francis Jackson, were traded to South Melbourne in a deal to deliver Swans star John Pitura.
All gave the Swans great service. Teasdale won the 1977 Brownlow Medal, but none would get to play in a premiership or be recognised as part of one of the game's greatest teams.
Neither would teammate and teenage sporting prodigy Robert Lamb, who also ended up at South, unable to force his way ahead of the likes of Kevin Bartlett, Paul Sproule and a young Neil Balme or David Cloke.
Then there's the host of players — part of the great Hawthorn and Essendon sides of the mid-1980s — who served inordinately long apprenticeships at reserves level before earning their chance.
But the lack of opportunity can kill other careers. Mick Thomson and Mark Eustice were talented Essendon youngsters who, with a fraction more luck and timing, might have been part of two premierships in the mid-1980s.
Both missed out, transferred to a struggling Richmond, and while Eustice would go on to play some good football for Sydney, never became anything near the household names they might have.
For Prismall, by comparison, there will be no lengthy apprenticeship at VFL level. Shorter lists and greater demand for quick results dictate that if Geelong decides he cannot squeeze into its best 22, he will move on.
A big, premiership-winning name in one of football's greatest sides, or a journeyman eking out a relatively anonymous existence with an also-ran. When you're surrounded by sporting brilliance, no matter how good you are, it can be a very fine line.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/no-time-to-waste/2008/08/15/1218307237900.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
