Clubs wary the pups of March can be Dogs of September
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday February 18, 2011
DOES anyone actually want to win the pre-season NAB Cup?It's a question worth pondering after the various statements coming out of the clubs over the past week.Throw in the number of top players rested - Hawthorn was the best example thus far - and you get a picture of a competition that is barely on the radar of some clubs.Not even the $198,000 first prize seems to stir them.Take Liam Anthony, North Melbourne's returning midfielder, for example. "This time last year we wanted to win because we had new structures in place and we needed to practise them," he said yesterday."This year, it's more about giving the young kids a go, developing the youth of our club better." Then Anthony checked himself. "Obviously we want to win. Every club wants to win. But it's more about getting things right rather than taking a win away from Skilled [Stadium]."Daniel Giansiracusa, the Western Bulldogs' vice-captain, echoed those thoughts."As a club we'll go into any game wanting to win. But I suppose as you've seen with other clubs, you're just going to play as many players as you can," Giansiracusa said."We haven't set out to win it or anything like that. But we've still got that motto that we go out to win any game we participate in."At Essendon, new coach James Hird was on about process. "We're not denying we'd love to win, but it's more about how we play than the win at this time of year," he said.The Bulldogs won the NAB Cup in 2010 only to fall at the second-last hurdle in the regular season. The past three pre-season winners, the Bulldogs, Geelong (2009) and St Kilda (2008) all contended later in the year.
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