saintspremiers wrote:oh when the wrote:Why are we poor, after probably the era of most wins ever
In our 140 yrs.
You've answered your own question.
We are historically useless.
It takes several flags over a few decades to become a power club. Look at the Hawks. They were a basket case for their first 50 odd years in the AFL and only came good in the 90's after several flags.
Perhaps had we delivered the expected 4 flags in the past decade that we should've, we'd now be a power club also.
Well done by Ghostaway for making a rare public speech.
Hawks came good in the 90's
The Hawks nearly went under in the late 90's turn of the century. A few smart decisions were crucial - Like basing themselves at Waverley and managing to secure an MCG deal. I would argue that we were in roughly the same boat as the hawks, but instead went to Etihad, and continued to be based at Moorabbin. Neither decision in hindsight, was very good. In fairness the hawks supporter base is mainly in the east, so they are probably better suited to the G, but I wonder whether our fans would have grizzled so much about the G if we were based there from the outset, rather than Colonial Stadium, or whatever it was called back then. Hard to know if the club could/should have forseen the problems with the Council in Kingston. But without proper development we were never going to have first class facilities.
Not sure winning flags suddenly makes you a superpower either. North never became one despite winning a couple of flags in the 90's. The cats are securing their future, but their membership is hardly through the roof as a result of winning flags - their future is tied to their stadium. Another smart decision. If we'd won 2-3 flags in the last 10 years, we would be a much more respected club, but I don't know if we'd be a 'power' club.
I for one, have no problem with Westaway talking to the media highlighting some of our issues. None of us should kid ourselves about not being a poorer club. We are, so what? We need to fight for a better deal with the AFL. The power clubs always seem to get heard, we need to make sure our voice and our concerns are well known at Commission level as well.