I'm falling for the same trap I did last year: 13 predictions for 2013. Madness, I know. I'm setting myself up for a monumental task 20 years from now...
13. The Best new recruit will be...
Not including draft picks, as I couldn’t pretend to know
anything about them, there are many established new additions to choose from.
Two Melbourne drop-outs in Bennell and Cale Morton, Saints youngster Jamie
Cripps and the more high profile Sharrod Wellingham. They’re all potentially
handy acquisitions, but you can’t go past Wellingham. He was recruited to add
some steel (nearly typed steele there, damn you Sidebottom!) (premiership) experience
and depth to a rather limited midfield. Trampolines and pony tails aside, once
all settles down, there’s no reason to suggest he won’t do just that. Of
course, as an established AFL midfielder the pressure is on him to perform
at a high level once he returns. There’s no such pressure on Morton (early
season nickname suggestion: Mor(e)ton Bay Fig?), Bennell and Cripps who are all
low-risk, high reward recruits.
12. We’ll miss you...
I prefer to look forward than back (that’s a lie) and I don’t
bear any ill feelings towards departed Eagles (massive lie), but we did lose a
few players in the off-season; Lynch, Stevens, Stevenson and Swift, M.D. Honestly, out of all of these I’ll personally
miss Tom Swift the most. With his erratic kicking, weird deer like running
style and bizarre hairstyles, he reminded me of a lot of myself. Plus, he was such a polarising figure amongst
fans that it was always fun blogging about him. More to the point though, in
terms of actual ‘football’ I think we’ll miss no-one. Stevens and Stevenson are
guys who never fulfilled their alleged potential. Lynch meanwhile was a player
who clearly had reached a point where he was a cusp member of the team and he
was unwilling to fight for his position. I’m grateful that he helped us win the
06 flag, but he’s past his best and now we’re past him.
 |
| His hair had a mind of his own as, unfortunately, did his right foot. |
11. Best Old Man...
Old in the football sense, that is. Glass, Kerr, Cox, Embley
and Adam Selwood are all battle-hardened veterans, but whereas the latter two
seemed to struggle a little last season (injury and form), the first 3
flourished. The Kerr-surgence was particularly heart-warming after a few very
dismal years of snaps, both of muscles and brain. But I think Glass will be the
best old man as he’s still the glue holding our defence together, our leader
and captain. The early Cox injury is a little disconcerting, but he has shown an amazing ability to play through injuries. I love that guy. Infact, I love all these guys, Selwood not withstanding (sorry Selly). At least I'm over the Embley toe poke, nearly definitely.
Stay tuned as the countdown will continue...make sure you don't miss it by liking and following the blog.
Until then, why not check out last season's predictions. Hilarious.
