Put simply, there is almost nothing positive that can be said about 2022. 3 wins and % of just over 60 is pretty much as bad as it has ever been over the last 25 years. Especially when you consider that two wins were by 1 and 2 points respectively and our second win v WCE was against a reserves quality team.
In terms of who played well, I would say only Byrne, Clarke, Taylor, Stubbs, Nicholas, Busher (when fit) and Davis were good consistently. Fisher, Sinclair, McInnes, Cary, Avery, Mayne and DBW were solid without reaching any great heights. Brodie Gray was ok as a tagger but needs to get his hands on the ball more. The concern there is that of the 15 players I have named as doing a reasonable job, only 5 are under 25. Of the players that have been exposed to league footy over the last couple of years, are there any you would say have really cemented themselves as league players? Perkusich, Bird, Peletier, Clark, Sanderson, Hayward, John, Martin, More, Dellamarta, Quartermaine?
Our only two recruits of note, Ajang and Ainsworth, were very disappointing. I think we'd be better off letting them go and using the points (15 in total) for more committed and impactful players. That said, my mail is that Ainsworth will save us the trouble, he's walked. I also understand McInnes may have pulled the pin. We can expect that Fisher, Smith, and Giblett will hang up the boots, and Mayne and both Bushers may do likewise.
There is really no quality coming through. Philip was ok, quick and good foot skills. But he and other colts (if not drafted) will take 3 years to build into league footy. I can't see anyone in the reserves stepping up. So, as I've said before, that means recruiting and lots of it. Too much for one season, but over the next two-three years we need a couple of elite players, and at least another 4 very solid players. However, other clubs will be looking to recruit as well. The difference is that WP, C, SF, EF will recruit to maintain their position. SD and EP will recruit to try to push up from 6-8 wins to 10-12. The best we can hope for is just to become competitive, maybe 6 wins and a % of 80 would be a reasonable outcome next year.
Sorry to be so negative. If anyone has a more positive spin, I'd like to hear it!