gazrat wrote:my next contribution to that thread was going to be about our greatest fear
ie .....barks , what was it , that we as a supporters group were the most fearful of as we were being gifted such a strong influx of talent ?
i can remember the discussions ......we feared losing our young talent after their initial 2 year (?) contracts were up ...to other clubs
surely, given the fact that our 'young talent' is still bonded and playing for the club ....gt did something right .....with the overseas trips , being a significant part of that result
Spot on, gaz.
Lord Voldemort (once more the man we cannot name, it would seem) did a great job at pulling together a diverse group of proven and potential talents into what was, for a time, a fantastically effective AFL team. It is hard to see how anyone cannot acknowledge this: I was heartened by Teflon's post earlier in this thread in which he did so (for the first time, in my recollection, but good on him).
Of course, the man had a massive ego and made lots of misjudgements (but which person in a responsible, high profile position doesn't do this?).
And it is arguable that he was never going to take us to the next stage" (personally, I have never believed that he was given a really fair run, but a case can be made either way). And it is possible that we now have the coach who can take us all the way: although nobody can be at all certain about this.
Anyway, this thread has actually been somewhat encouraging in suggesting that people on both sides of the divide are slowly starting to get some proper perspective on the Thomas era. So, in that sense, I hope that OWTS and the other mods might loosen their grip on the trigger just a fraction and let some of these debates run on for a while.
"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into."
- Jonathan Swift