Dwayne Russell has named the West Coast Eagles as his most disappointing club in 2023.
Speaking after the conclusion of the home and away season, Russell dissected the 10 clubs to miss finals and gave his thoughts on each.
Here are his most disappointing clubs in 2023 of the sides who missed finals, from no.1 (most disappointing) to no.10 (least disappointing).
1. West Coast
“Worse than your worst nightmare, so bad that we started to forget how bad they were,” he began on SEN's Dwayne's World.
2. Western Bulldogs
“No other team with that type of list has underachieved like the Dogs have this year.”
3. Fremantle
“Should have done better, got the tools and I think they can be a lot better next year with what they’ve got.”
4. Essendon
“They came from 15th, so they went up the ladder, but they did promise so much two-thirds into the season.
“They could have easily been in the eight like St Kilda.”
5. Gold Coast
“Shouldn’t be surprised, they do this every year. A good first half of the season, promise a lot and then don’t deliver late.”
6. Geelong
“What they did to recruit to win last year’s flag made them vulnerable to having this happen, same with Richmond.
“So they haven’t failed. What they’ve done is recruited to win a flag and they’ve won one, the fact they’ve had to drop off this year because of the way they recruited to win a flag doesn’t make them disappointing to win a flag, in my estimation.”
7. Richmond
“I think they’ll regenerate and by winning the flag, it enables them to maintain a great culture and remain a destination club.
“You can recruit to win flags and if you fall off the perch… it’s still worth it, I think.”
8. Adelaide
“Adelaide’s been good, they’ve improved, so that’s why they’re way down the list.”
9. Hawthorn
10. North Melbourne