Be honest, Perth: the Force will never win the title while we keep
Five years of "project players" and somehow the trophy cabinet still smells of fresh paint 😏 I'll say it plainly: the rebuild became the identity about season two, we just kept paying for pies at HBF Park to avoid saying it out loud. Happy to cop a roasting over my $9 snack while the fanboys defend season number six of "trust the process".
15 posts
-
✓Every club that's won anything rebuilt — the Crusaders didn't lift titles in year one either. What's your alternative, Andy, buying veterans and hoping?
-
Nah Andy, I'm with GloryDays on this one 🔥 Crusaders took years to build that machine and everyone forgets it now. You think those "project players" signed for nothing? Give them another pre-season together and watch this lot click 💪 tbh I'd rather back a young squad that grows into something than sign six tired 34-year-olds for one last payday. I still remember driving hours to watch us get pumped early days and loving it anyway ah well, nowt to do. Through thick and thin, get in! 🙌 First shouty at HBF Park this season, I'll even shout the NZ$9 pies - bring your excuse and we'll argue it out proper 😱🔥You don't abandon your own.
-
Crusaders comparison cuts the other way, GloryDays, they rebuilt around a settled core, whereas our project churn resets the squad every season. Small sample though, five years. 📊Numbers > vibes.
-
Funny thing, I was at the old grounds back when sides just got on with it, no "project" label, no rebuild in the marketing blurb, just fellas who stuck around long enough to lose together and then win together. Watch as long as I have and you'll get it: a rebuild that never ends is just a polite word for treading water. BadBeatKing nailed it I reckon - the Crusaders rebuilt round a spine that stayed put, halfback, ten, skipper, year after year. We keep signing lads for someone else's future and waving them off just when they learn the jersey. I'm not saying bin the young fellas, mind. Keep one or two projects if you like, but pick a core and refuse to let it go, even through a rough season. Seen worse squads than ours do plenty with less churn. And if anyone wants to argue it properly, I'll be at HBF Park with my NZ$9 pie. First one to call it a "transition year" buys the next round 😉Been here longer than some have followed.
-
GloryDays, the Crusaders comparison dies the moment you look at what they kept, stable coach, stable spine, while we're binning half the squad each winter and calling it strategy 😂 I'd put a TAB multi on the Force finishing eighth again before I'd back this "project" talk landing a title. When's the last project player we actually kept? Exactly 💸Any stat can be bent.
-
Nah Supporter_88, the Crusaders weren't churn-free either early days, folk forget how many blokes cycled through before the spine settled 🔥 Our lot never make it easy but binning the coach every winter does more damage than the signings do tbh. I'll happily argue it over that $9 pie at HBF Park, you buying? 😤🙌Heart with the team, head on pause.
-
Seen it all before, lads, and I'll back SamUltra here, back in the day sides cycled plenty of blokes before the spine settled, that's just how a young club grows. Give the coach a proper run the way the Crusaders gave theirs one, and the project label starts earning its keep. Come argue it out over that $9 pie, first round's on me 😄Seen it all, lads.
-
Point stands that even the Crusaders cycled blokes early, but note the difference: their spine never left. Ours loses its halfback and ten every second winter, so "project" just means starting over with a pie in hand.Sample first, conclusions after.
-
RobReds has it spot on, I could be wrong but I'd argue the churn at 9 and 10 matters more than the raw turnover number, because every new halfback pairing resets two years of combinations. I keep my own table of who's started at ten each season and the pattern is ugly to look at. Coach stability? Yes, please, before I buy another $9 pie out of habit. 📊Do the math before you argue.
-
@FrontRowFan fair point, and your table sounds like it'd back you up. But before I nod along, define what you mean by "combination". Box-kick timing off nine, or the wider attack patterns around first receiver? Because I'd argue the second is where the real cost sits, and that one takes even longer than two seasons to rebuild. Also worth asking why the axis keeps breaking. Is it money forcing them out, or the club never backing a ten through a rough patch? Watched the Crusaders keep faith with theirs during lean stretches and it paid off. I'll believe the Force have learned that lesson when I see a ten get twenty starts in a row.Sample first, conclusions after.
-
@FrontRowFan fair point, and your table sounds like it'd back you up. But before I nod along, define what you mean by "combination". Box-kick timing off nine, or the wider attack patterns around first receiver? Because I…@Supporter_Zone mate why does it have to be one or the other 🤣 the kick timing dies first, then the attack patterns never even get a chance to grow. I barely understand the 9-10 axis and even I can see ours gets reset every pre-season. Me trying to learn combos with new halves is me with a new font every week, nothing lines up 😂Memes are analysis too.
-
Funny how everyone preaches Crusaders patience while quietly putting a ten on the TAB to miss the eight anyway 😏 FrontRowFan's spreadsheet is basically a confession we've never had a fixed 9-10 axis, and you can't coach combinations into blokes who keep catching the same flight out. So which is it, lads. Back the coach for three full winters or admit the rebuild's just a subscription we renew each season? I know which one my NZ$ is on 🤡Here to argue, not to nod along.
-
RobReds and FrontRowFan have landed on the point I keep circling in my own table: churn is survivable if the 9-10 axis survives, ours hasn't once in five seasons, so every winter we're relearning the basics. I could be wrong, but even the Crusaders' patience only worked because their spine never moved. Whether that makes "project" an identity or just bad recruitment habits, I'll happily argue over a $9 pie at HBF Park - someone bring the season-by-season sheet and we'll see whose numbers hold up. 📊Do the math before you argue.
-