michael o'connor was a devastating loss in my books.
however we lost so much reliable lower grade talent from 83-85 who went on to perform wonderfully at other clubs.
in 84-85 our club was head & shoulders above the others by a country mile in depth.
if it hadn't been for an eric grothe try in the final, we would have had all three grades in grand finals 2 years in a row. As such, parra rolling us in that 84 final robbed the lower grades of their regular players who were ineligible to play because of the amount of first grade they played throughout the season.
over the next 2 years (86-87) there was a steady flow of retiring experienced players & talented players leaving who could have helped develop the lower grades coming through. we lost so much reliable lower grade talent who went on to perform wonderfully at other clubs.
an example; we had the gun player of the presidents cup in marc glanville & let him leave. we kept graeme wynn who by that stage was a semen stain.
the heart of the club was torn out. the players signed did not in any way compensate for this. players such as linnane, noke, funnell, kinchella, burgess etc were unable to reach the heights they could have because the experience of gearin, rogers, johnson, walsh, jarvis, o'grady, morris, haddock & stone retired or left. and the likes of gavin allen & johns who were tremendous young first graders who went on to shine at other clubs.
as such 86-90 were the gomer years. the disappointment i felt was paralyzing. in fact i still get sad at the memory of it. we went from such strength to pure geniuss.
however, last year under jowls was the single worst year of footy i have ever witnessed by our club.
