Why are we a better side?

[Achilles]

It’s somewhat perplexing that we’ve improved to the extent we have this year. Many had us finishing 8-12. We’ve hardly ever had our best 22 or best 16 for that matter. It’s extraordinary really. Maybe it’s belief, maybe the game-plan has finally sunk in.

What do others think?

[K]

Stephenson, WHE (et al.) ... [as acknowledged to an extent by the senior coach.]
[And the whole competition is (very) mediocre, which allows quick rises and falls.]

[Pies2016]

I tend to think we underachieved last year, so that’s magnified our improvement this year.
I wouldn’t underestimate the findings of the review we had on the back of the 2017 season. The people involved clearly identified where change needed to occur from the top down.
It’s a lot more enjoyable coming to work when the work environment is a positive one. Put the right people in the right positions and invariably the rest will fall into place.

[PyreneesPie]

I think that this has also had an impact - Bucks in his presser:
"On ground, as well as off ground during the breaks, we were able to make adjustments that reinforced our strengths and took some of the oppositions away".
We had a tough time stopping the momentum of teams last season, when they get on a roll. Yet, we've been able to do this much better this year. In fact, it's been quite impressive the way we can absorb pressure and turn it around the other way. I think part of this may be possible because of the flexibility in the roles that individual players can take on and the belief of the players that they can weather the storm and turn it around.

[Deja Vu]

We can create chains of possession and move the ball really quickly by hand.
We move the ball quickly but hit targets for the most part. We create the open player by switching a lot and taking risks through the middle. Our forward line is unpredictable.

I don’t think you could have said any of those things last year.

[Mugwump]

Talent, plus time is the largest part of it.

Grundy has become the best ruckman in the league, and a serious, serious match winner. A few weeks back P4S said he was better than Len Thompson, and I did not think so. I now realise that P4S was right. He is a unique, once in several generations talent who wins matches by giving you an extra player over the opposition. Today, we had a tap ruckman, plus a 24 possession, 9-tackle (yes, really!) and 8 mark midfielder. He was excellent last year. This year he is in another league again.

De Goey, see Grundy. Another who has moved from very good to truly elite.

Aish, Maynard, WHE and Adams have stepped up to another level of development. So has Cox, and so has Josh Thomas. So has
Phillips. Crisp was a star last year, and he is now an elite running backman, who seems to me fairly comparable to Heath Shaw in his prime.

We have been through a rebuild. They take time. And time has passed. There was never that much wrong with Buckley’s coaching. Every great coach knows that players make coaches, far more than the other way around. See Pagan, see Malthouse. We got the talent in, and it has now matured. Add Treloar and Elliott and Scharenberg, if that is possible, and we will be the next dynasty.

[Skids]

Our ball use has improved out of site.

Fresh faces are stepping up.

The team has got behind the coaches and they play for each other.

Belief.

[Jezza]

I think it's a combination of things.

The club undertook a review to identify the way to improve on its existing strengths and any glaring weaknesses. Most of the findings of the review were not reviewed publicly, but it did help reinforce a few things. The players were behind Buckley and to help best maximise Buckley's coaching abilities, a shake up of our assistant coaching staff was required. The inclusions of Longmuir, Hocking and Matthew Boyd seemed to have paid dividends for us.

It isn't obvious whether Buckley's changed too much from the outside looking in. The biggest mistake with Buckley was throwing him into a job he wasn't ready for after only two years of assistant coaching experience, so instead of going through a proper apprenticeship as an assistant coach, he was essentially doing an apprenticeship from day 1 as a senior coach and this may have hindered his coaching in his early days. Couple that with inheriting a team just past its peak but far from bottoming out, Buckley was always going to struggle with the benefit of hindsight.

He's undergone the proper apprenticeship now, and he looks like a proper senior coach now. Even though we've struggled over the years, I think his coaching and interaction with the playing group has improved significantly in the last few years, and it's started to come together now. I've had significant doubts of his coaching ability on this long journey, but I'm fully behind him now and think he can deliver the ultimate success for us in the future, which is something I didn't believe before this year. I admire those who staunchly supported him even in our toughest moments.

The coaching structures have held up this year whether this is due to a change in tactics by the coaching staff and/or whether the players have now started to understand how to implement those tactics effectively on a consistent basis. The unpredictable nature of our forward line consisting of WHE, De Goey, Thomas, Stephenson, Mihocek and Cox has meant we've seen a fully functioning forward line for the first time since about 2011/2012 and the defensive structures have held up brilliantly in spite of a deep injury list.

Leaders within the club are starting to emerge to the extent that we no longer solely rely on Pendles' leadership qualities to guide us. Adams is seen as the next captain in waiting and has shown tremendous qualities required of a future captain. Other leaders to emerge include Langdon (P4S will love me saying that), Grundy, Howe and Maynard.

Our rebuild commenced at the end of 2013 with the exodus of Shaw, D Thomas, Didak, Jolly et al. I always anticipated short-term pain but I guess the length of the pain and the club's unwillingness to publicly acknowledge that we were rebuilding frustrated supporters along the way in terms of what the realistic expectations were for the club at the time. I expected us to make significant inroads last year (which didn't eventuate), so to see it come to fruition now is a relief and exciting at the same time. Rebuilds take time and I think we've hit a point now that most of our young players have emerged and matured with 50+ games under their belt. Since the rebuild begun, we've seen the likes of Grundy, Langdon, De Goey, Maynard, Phillips and others all grow into seriously good players.

A lot of people will overlook this, but I wouldn't underestimate our final seven games last year. After losing to Essendon by 6 goals and being 5-10 with Buckley dead man walking, a lot started changing slowly. We actually picked up the pieces from that poor performance and won 4, drew 1 and lost 2 of our last seven games with some big scalps against Melbourne and West Coast and we should have beaten the Crows as well. They were small signs, but the improvement was evident even then despite the season being over earlier in the year. I think that was the start of the turnaround and it's continued on into this season.

The lack of trade activity last year may also be a blessing in disguise for us. At the time, most of us were frustrated by the lack of activity but it's possible that too much activity in one trade period may have unsettled the squad with new players having to adjust to the game plan and structures in previous years, so we didn't change too much on that front apart from recruiting Sam Murray from Sydney.

Most of our first year players have exceeded expectations. The most notable players in Stephenson, Mihocek, Murray, Sier, Appleby et al have all been meaningful contributors to the team along the way and had a positive impact.

I guess the only downside of the year has been the extensive injury list, which is something we've struggled to overcome in the Buckley era, but this year has been one of the most enjoyable years as a supporter.

[BazBoy]

Our recruiting helped

Stephenson
Murphy
Hocking
Longmuir
Boyd

And Maxwell

[BazBoy]

Our recruiting helped

Stephenson
Murphy
Hocking
Longmuir
Boyd

And Maxwell

[AN_Inkling]

I don't think the change is as big as the OP suggests. We were good last year. As Paul Roos said, for portions of games we were a top side, it just wasn't being sustained. Improve the squad with a couple of inclusions and further development of our existing players and there's most of the improvement explained. It's a very even comp, there's not much between 12th and top 4.

Our midfield was as good last year as this (mainly with the exception of the development of Phillips and emergence of Mayne). Our defence the same. Any improvement on these lines has been incremental. It's our forward line that's taken a big step forward and this is due to the emergence of De Goey, addition of Stephenson and Mihocek, improvement of WHE, Cox and the giant leap taken by Thomas. There's a lot of upside there from 2017 to 2018.

[BazBoy]

I believe Bucks and co. will implement moves at what they see as critical times

A little move rested the momentum back our way when Sidey and JDG swapped —a goal eventuates to Sidey and a couple of centre clearances from
JDD further swung the pendulum our way

Bucks and his gang have game days smarts

[Mugwump]

^ An astute point as ever, Inkling, which picks up on one of Jezza’s : we improved a lot last year, but our early and mid season slumps hid it. The back end of the year we were very good. This year we have added some more to what was already better than people think.

One underrated point of improvement has been Mihocek, who has been a revelation. Every week he provides contests, and seems to pick up two to four goals, often from ground balls. He’s such a find. One wonders how many other hidden gems are out there, undiscovered.

[AN_Inkling]

^^Also missed Cox. Our forward really has seen a lot of improvement, both by addition and development.

[Jezza]

Goalkicking Tally

Will Hoskin-Elliott = 39
Jordan De Goey = 36
Josh Thomas = 34
Jaidyn Stephenson = 32
Brody Mihocek = 20 (played 11 games)
Mason Cox = 18

Last year, our top three goal scorers were Elliott (34), Fasolo (29) and Moore (25). None of these guys have played up forward this year due to positional changes, injuries or loss of form. It goes to show how much our forward line personnel has altered in the past 12 months.

The last time we had 4 players kick 30+ goals in a season was in 2002.