DOC wrote:South
MinMan
Saints
BSR
Whuffer, Season preview?
All the best. Hope you enjoy it.
I'm probably not close enough to the comp to provide a real in depth look. My quick couple of sentences for each side is:
BSR- Lost a couple of 'covid' recruits from last year but have kept the core of the squad which won the flag last season. Captain and arguably one the best players in the comp Sam Martin is returning from injury this year. Definitely not going to be a walk in the park with a couple of other teams looking to have improved but should be very much around the mark.
South Clare- Lost the coach and a key couple of key players. Also lost their leading goal scorer last year as a Covid recruit. Haven't seemed to pick up a lot in the off season. The new coach was an assistant last year so you would expect he will implement the same standards, they were a very well drilled, structured side. Going to be around the mark come finals.
Southern Saints- Undisputed April flag favs, have recruited very heavily with both ex AFL and SANFL experience, names such as Schmidt, Hardy, Prior will run around with them. Finished 5th in 2019 but didn't participate in 2020. How that affects them no one knows. They have a land of giants feel about them so they will be hoping for a drier winter. Expect them to be extremely strong.
Min Man- Probably broke even in the recruiting stakes picking up a few, losing a few. Were a young side and would expect some natural improvement out of them. Finished 3rd last year but thinking that might be hard to replicate again given Saint and RSMU improving. They would be aiming for finals and should be in that discussion to late in the year.
RSMU- New coach and a couple of new gun recruits including Sam Milne. Knocked out in the elimination final last year but have improved their list and seemed to lose their way a bit last year. A bit of an unknown in my opinion. One of those teams that could be right in the mix or end up missing finals.
North Clare- The biggest town in the comp, the biggest name recruits in the comp but continuously seem to fail to deliver. For the last 3 years everyone has been looking at their list and thinking how can they not be making finals. This year they haven't recruited as well and are looking to give a few more locals a crack. Probably best for their long term success but it might mean a fair bit of small term pain. Cant see them making the finals, to be honest see them being a bottom side.
Blyth - A bit of an unknown. Won the flag in 2019(?), hired Lindsay Bassani as coach in 2020 missed the finals, sacked the coach and now have a coach taking a senior side for the first time. Havent heard a whole lot about them in the off season. They do have enough talent though to be a tough competitor, I don't see them making finals but there probably the hardest team to get a read on.
Burra - Were bang average in 2019, didn't play in 2020 and are now talking a big game in 2021. Have recruited heavily in quantity, not a lot of names I know of but that doesn't mean anything. I play cricket with a few lads who play for Burra and they have been talking a Burra/Saints final now for a while. Honesty I'm not convinced, there coming from a long way back and who knows what the year off does.