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February 25, 2007
NAB Cup: Fools gold?
Geelong: 2006 NAB Cup Premiers
It's that time of the year again. With another cricket season slowly coming to an end the anticipation of another exciting AFL season just around the corner is high. Players have swapped clubs, young draftees have settled into their new clubs, while the veterans are coming back after their off-season surgery hoping to prolong their careers another couple of seasons. There is only one thing standing in the way of the fight for the 2007 AFL Premiership Cup...the NAB Cup.
The NAB Cup certainly serves its purpose. New rules are trialled while it provides some vital match practice to those who need it. Coach's get to see their new players in action & try new tactics, but is the NAB Cup worth winning for anyside wanting to challenge in September? Here's a table from the last 10 years on how the pre-season tournament winners have faired in the actual season.
From 2000-2004 the correlation is very promising with the great Essendon side of 2000 the only side being able to do the double, but in the last couple of years with the strategies of list management and the way the game is played changing the regular season sucess hasn't been there. However it should be noted the losers in those NAB Grand Finals have gone deep into the AFL Finals that season.
With only 1 side in the past 10 seasons being able to do the double, why would clubs be chasing success in the NAB Cup so hard if they have their eyes on the ultimate prize? The answer is simply, they don't. Sydney have made it to the past two Grand Finals with mixed success, reason partly for this success is their pre-season. Sydney rarely play any star players in the NAB Cup or any pre-season game for that matter. It is all about the kids. No doubt this has effects on their short-term & long-term fortunes. Sydney generally start off with a slow start to the season, often a losing record in their first 5-6 games, but as their valuable players start to get match fitness & form back they start picking up games and come home with a tail wind. They also seem to suffer very few injuries, this partly has to be put down to luck but is it not possible that it is because their senior players start the season fresh & rested?
"We're taking it very seriously as defending champions of the competition." - Jimmy Bartel
“We didn’t start out last year to definitely win the NAB Cup but after we won a couple of games we realised that we had a massive chance. It’s the same this year, we will aim to win a few games and from there who knows.” - Corey Enright
I am worried about the above comments. I'm really hoping they're just saying what they've been told to say by the public relations manager but with a strong squad against Richmond named it seems otherwise.
I won't lie. I was extremely drunk & overjoyed when we won last seasons NAB Cup. I felt it was a monkey off our back, we could finally feel confident of our side being able to perform on a big stage, although not the biggest of stages. I felt it was good forward progression for the club. Having now accomplished that I simply don't see the point in trying to 'defend our title' if we are aiming to win the premiership. The fact NAB will fork out $1m to the winner would seem a big enough reason for one, but should money be the issue? The club has made a profit the last 7 seasons & we have the 3rd largest membership in Victoria at the moment despite a very disappointing 2006.
Mark Thompson tried to model our gameplan on the great Brisbane Lion sides 2001 to 2004 with some early success. Please Mark, I emplore you to take a leaf out of your own book and get on the latest blueprint of success. The Paul Roos blueprint. Rest Steven King, Matthew Scarlett, Darren Milburn & Tom Harley from today's match and have them primed for the real stuff.
“It was such a good feeling to win last year’s NAB Cup that to win the regular season would be such a special thing and we are doing everything we can to make it happen.” - Corey Enright
I certainly hope we are Corey, I certainly hope we are...
Posted by Sammy D at February 25, 2007 12:10 AM
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