Over the last few podcasts the experts have been very dismissive of the Doozers chances in 2023. Well everybody should savour any victory they have over the Doozers this year as very soon they are going to become one of the best teams in the competition. Lets see why…
Last year I wrote an article about how every team was only three years away from a premiership. Well over the last two seasons the Doozers have quietly gone on a rebuild which means that their premiership window will be open in 2025 or even 2024. Each year at the end of the season team lists are culled down to a maximum of 12 players. Out of last year’s 12 keepers, the Doozers had picked up 6 of them in the previous years PSD and MSD. Add to that Gulden, Rozee and Sheezel who are looking like keepers from this year’s PSD and the turnover the Doozers will have had in the last 2 years is significant.
But what is even more exciting for the Doozers is the age of the majority of their preferred starting line (and the quality of those players in particular). Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, a future superstar forward, is 20; Luke Davies-Uniacke, being touted this year as the best player from his draft class, is 23; Erol Gulden is 20; Conor Rozee is 23; and Harry Sheezel, who after three games is the 3rd best Key Back in the league, is 18. Most teams would trade an arm and a leg for any of these players and you would expect that at their age all of them are still going to get better. Then add to this Callum Mills at 26, Jack Steele at 27 and Nick Valstuin at 28, and you have 8 of 10 starting positions nailed down for the next 3 years by players of real quality.
Young players do have a tendency to be a little bit more inconsistent than their veteran teammates, which is why I am not predicting them to win the premiership this year. But as evidenced by the fact they were the top scoring team for the round, when those young guns fire the Doozers are a force to be reckoned with. (An interesting thing to note is that the number of times they have top scored this season after only 3 rounds is equal to the total number of top scores they accumulated over the previous 3 seasons put together).
The Doozers list, and their prospects for success, has turned the corner. And the Deadly Doozers Dynasty is just around the corner.
Guru
The gaping holes at KF and Ruck, two critical positions, still concern me, Judge. But they certainly had a good week this week 👍🏻
Bruce McAvaney
Until the Doozers take the MSD seriously, I won’t take them seriously