How a Covid 2020 was a benefit to us.

[Gershwin]

I picked us to finish lower down the ladder in 2020 on the basis that a new coach and 5 new players would take time to have an impact.

However the 'bubble' situation in Queensland allowed for intense familiarisation of players and game style and probably sped up that process. Additionally developing players such as Clark, Coffield, King, Patton etc. had the sort of intensive training and coaching that they would never have received in a 'normal' season. Taking the whole playing group to Noosa plus as many officials as possible seems to have bonded the club.

Interested in other peoples thoughts.

[CURLY]

Think blokes like Webster Roberton Bytal suffered from not playing VFL footy.

[To the top]

We have a highly regarded Coach who bought with him a very experienced support staff

The Coach has an analytical focus, his reading of the game streets ahead of the very great majority of us

The challenge to the playing group, and particularly the younger contingent, was to showcase their skills and to take the game on

Plus to enjoy the experience

The analytics worked into this challenge

And make no mistake, we have some very fine young players on our List

There were (and are) still gaps, hence the comment that “we will be adding some polish to our midfield”

And no doubt we will be in the market to add more “polish”, the usage of the word “polish” indicative (at least to me)

All that said, the Club embraced what was put before it

So the support troops - including partners and particularly the wife of the Coach who contributed as she did

Ryder was brilliant, the partner of one of our recruited players superb with home schooling for the children

And so it went on - and on

Everyone bought in

No doubt the challenges will be put for 2021, to build a dynasty where St Kilda are an upper echelon Club, consistently playing finals footy with the rewards that status delivers

The ultimate prize

Ratten deserves no less

[cwrcyn]

We were a club that thrived and bonded in the hub while some others disintegrated. Some of that was due to improved on field performance, but I think it also indicates that we have a harmonious football club with good people from top to bottom.

[Vortex]

I have to disagree with part of the proposition in the OP that suggests game style and player development was improved and even possibly accelerated somehow. From my understanding, complete and utter chaos was experienced by all clubs due to the sudden lockdown and then subsequent restrictions to player management and training when the season resumed and as such there was hardly anything like the "intense" training with comparrison to "normal" seasons or full "strenth seassons" as I like to call them and as suggested by the OP. COVID restrictions just didn't allow it.

In fact I think you could mount a strong argument to suggest there was a uniform degradation of player fittness and game style, however to the average punter's eye the degradation would have hardly been noticed due to the uniformity of degradation experienced by all 18 clubs.

What I think our club, and possibly other clubs benifted from, especially the clubs with a younger age demographic, was the opportunity to treat the experience as a fully paid adventure in paradise. This experience I have no doubt had the positive outcome of bonding all members of the club that participated in a way that might have longer term benefits.

I suppose though it's also possible the coincidence of our elevated ladder postion in 2020 and the panedmic and it's hub conditions has led some to conclude these two unrelated events contributed to our improved ladder postion. That conclusion would be highly doubtful and not be deeply rooted in sound logic. In fact I think you could mount a very strong argument our improved ladder postion was soley due to events that happened well before the pandemic, namely the gaining of a critical mass of serious player qualtiy. Moreover there was fair and reasonable logic before the pandemic suggesting we were going to rise up the ladder in 2020 and play finals.

[CQ SAINT]

I have to disagree with part of the proposition in the OP that suggests game style and player development was improved and even possibly accelerated somehow. From my understanding, complete and utter chaos was experienced by all clubs due to the sudden lockdown and then subsequent restrictions to player management and training when the season resumed and as such there was hardly anything like the "intense" training with comparrison to "normal" seasons or full "strenth seassons" as I like to call them and as suggested by the OP. COVID restrictions just didn't allow it.

In fact I think you could mount a strong argument to suggest there was a uniform degradation of player fittness and game style, however to the average punter's eye the degradation would have hardly been noticed due to the uniformity of degradation experienced by all 18 clubs.

What I think our club, and possibly other clubs benifted from, especially the clubs with a younger age demographic, was the opportunity to treat the experience as a fully paid adventure in paradise. This experience I have no doubt had the positive outcome of bonding all members of the club that participated in a way that might have longer term benefits.

I suppose though it's also possible the coincidence of our elevated ladder postion in 2020 and the panedmic and it's hub conditions has led some to conclude these two unrelated events contributed to our improved ladder postion. That conclusion would be highly doubtful and not be deeply rooted in sound logic. In fact I think you could mount a very strong argument our improved ladder postion was soley due to events that happened well before the pandemic, namely the gaining of a critical mass of serious player qualtiy. Moreover there was fair and reasonable logic before the pandemic suggesting we were going to rise up the ladder in 2020 and play finals.

Starts off shakey and goes downhill from there.
We didn't improve but if we did, its because we improved, not cause of the hub. Brilliant!

[The_Dud]

COVID or no COVID, hub or no hub, the ladder would have looked almost exactly the same either way.

Calls of the Suns winning the GF and teams giving up early in the season were quickly made to look ridiculous.

The season played out like any other in the end, reflecting trends over recent years, the best teams made finals and played off in the GF.