Worst thing to happen to our Cubs was back to back premierships and a lost coroner cooties year. Closely followed by a massive injury run to our senior players this year.
Development and growth of young upcoming players generally happens over a season or three. A couple of kids get fed a game or two here n there to cover for an injured player n then get sent back to the magoos to work on and improve minor game deficiencies. Before hopefully getting another patch of games later in the season or following year.
Back to back premiers meant there's been very little opportunity for the youngsters to get a look at seniors last couple of years, plus the cooties killed off any real footy development at all for them last year. Losing more mature mid tier n fringies like Higlet, Lego, Menaredue, Bobble, Geezer, Towner in the last two years has created a short term depth coverage hole.
This year with so many senior players churning through an injury nightmare, there's virtually too many kids with nil experience getting thrown in at the deep end n told to swim like Thorpedo.
The current group of seniors are struggling with their own form n fitness n are unable to supply the usual support n coverage to allow the youngsters to feel their way into the senior game at the moment. This causes a minor breakdown in the match system n connection on game day n oppo teams are exploiting the gaps with ruthless abandon.
As miserable as this season has been so far, reckon there'll be a massive step up from a bunch of youngsters next year. Purely from having their baptism of fire this year n getting that desperately needed senior experience under the belt.
)
