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Well...now the dust has settled and my hangovers officially gone, it's probably time to look back on the season and reflect on things the club did well and where we will need to improve next year. To be minor premiers and play in a GF is no mean feat and to be beaten by what was essentially a team of professional athletes was certainly no disgrace. But at day's end we weren't good enough. The positives for me this season was the fact something like 10 of last years premiership team were missing in the 2016 GF which as a result saw the emergence of young blokes like Declan Jackson, Chris Bryan, Craig Hoskins, Sean Bradley, Liam Ryan through out the year just to name a few. According to Schoey just about all of this years GF squad have indicated they'll go around again although you'd think Brett Robbo and Twomes might have a long hard think which opens up opportunities for Justin Joyce, Greg Clarke, Maxy Walters and Bogensperger et al if they do retire. With a solid pre-season for the likes of Hamish Shep and co I think we'll be in pretty good shape next year.

Where do we need to improve? as someone else said we sorely missed a ruckman after Madut went down and that should be our recruiting priority as there's no ready replacement coming through the ressies. We should continue to develop our young mids such as those already mentioned in Bogensperger and Walters, and I like to see an increased focus on our colts system. Notwithstanding our poor zones, there's obviously some issues there if we finish stone motherless last and have to replace the coach just before the end of the season. We need to identify and bring on board the best development coaching talent of young players available and if that means throwing some decent coin at them, then so be it.

All-in-all I think it was a very good season which unfortunately didn't translate into a flag but at least we put ourselves into a position to fight it out. Finally, I'm hoping we don't go out and recruit big names other than an accomplished ruckman maybe as I think we've got enough talent coming through to get the job done next year. Just my thoughts and would be interested in everyone else's including supporters of other clubs.

Go the mighty Lions !!!

My input for what its worth BC is that Subiaco were not quite as dominant as the previous 2 years and I think their weaknesses were exposed a little bit more in a few of the qualifying games by teams like West Perth, East Freo, Peel and Perth. Some of those games they wouldn't have lost in 2015. Having said that, you cant argue with a minor premiership and a Grand Final berth and it must have been a bit galling watching Yarran being as destructive as he was for Peel in the Grand Final.

I only saw Subiaco live 3 times of course, all against Swans, so it was hard for me to judge those performances as Subi were in cruise control for most of these clashes. They have and will continue to have an elite midfield with Cockie adding a bit of grunt. They have a potent forward line. One area they could look at apart from the obvious one of a ruckman as you mentioned was perhaps developing a few more in the backline as at times they seemed a bit stretched by some of the better teams this year and if Twomey decides not to go around again this need may become more urgent. There may be some good uns in the ressies that could step up, you would know better than I would with this.

All in all well done to Subi for their season and a brave effort in the GF.

all good points mike and thanks for your input. I actually thought our back half was pretty good this year as we averaged on 63 points per game against which was the lowest in the comp. obviously not as good as last year but still very solid. when you consider Jordan Lockyer, Declan Jackson and co are still only 23/24 if does auger well for the future. I thought we were down this year up forward and it's no surprise when the likes of Yarran and Boland are taken out. we also lacked an efficient outside mid such as Menegola as we had the inside stitched up with Horse, Kitchin and Cockie but someone who can run and carry needs to be developed for next year. Bogensperger plays that role so maybe he will come on...anyway...I appreciate your thoughts. Cheers

Good comments guys, BC the other thing is that we'll have Kennedy, Halligan and Sokol back and fully fit after the pre-season, Halligan & Sokol are very important to our forward line and Kennedy as a run with small back, all three could run through the mids at times as well. All our efforts should be put into getting the best possible ruckman that's available. If as you say the GF team are going to stay around we will be fine in the mids and down back. I would not like to see us chase Grimley as he's a forward not a specialist ruckman and we already have a big 50+ goal forward, so a big mobile ruckman is the key so we can get more use around the ground from Dela and Clang.

Definitely need a good ruckman. BC you mentioned Grimley in another post, not sure about him, can he even ruck? Mind you he might have been handy on Sunday. Fairly happy with our year just wasn't our day in the end

Also forgot that Hancock will be back from his knee re-con but usually they take half a season to get their confidence back after a knee.

Yes Senior I heard he wasn't much chop as a ruckman. The 3 other boys you mentioned are big ins

yep...forgot about Hancock. I saw him at the 2nd semi against Souths in Subi polo etc so it looks like he hasn't moved on which is great...he's a quality player. as for Grimley, the games he played for the Bombers were mainly as a forward although at 200cms he was used as a pinch hitter in the ruck. Could he ruck at WAFL level who knows? but we managed to get his signature once so may be worth exploring again if there's no other dedicated ruckmen on the market.

BC wrote: yep...forgot about Hancock. I saw him at the 2nd semi against Souths in Subi polo etc so it looks like he hasn't moved on which is great...he's a quality player. as for Grimley, the games he played for the Bombers were mainly as a forward although at 200cms he was used as a pinch hitter in the ruck. Could he ruck at WAFL level who knows? but we managed to get his signature once so may be worth exploring again if there's no other dedicated ruckmen on the market.

Yes mate, Hancock was in the bar Sunday night in his blazer too so all looking good for next year. I heard a whisper on the night that Twomey was unlikely to go around again and someone else mentioned Phez. Sean Bradley is good to carry on next year - at only 23 I think some real improvement coming from him is possible as he toughens up a bit and gains confidence. Players I dont really rate this year all disappointed me on Sunday. Apologies to anyone I upset, but for me Moore, Mahoney, Waters, and to a lesser extent Stevo and Latham are a liability at times for various reasons and were outclassed

yes agree Singha re Bradley. He didn't impress me when they used him as a key forward early in the season but grew an extra leg as a pinch hitting ruckman. It looks like he's got a pretty good tank and at 193cm there's no reason why they can't develop him as a big bodied mid. Fyfe, Munday and Bontompelli are around that height and Cripps at Carlton is even taller.