View Full Version : Weight of expectations
pedrothelioness
5 May 2003, 00:07
I dont know about the rest of you supporters, but Im about sick of commentators and the media dismissing the Lions wins as falling short of being good ect. Fair enough we arent belting the teams and winning by big margains like some parts of last year, but 6 rounds in, we are 1 and a half wins on top of the table, the only undefeated team in the competition and have played quality sides as in Port Adelaide, Collingwood, Essendon and the usually close and tough Bulldogs.
Its like the media expect us to wing by 50 points every game, yet failing to realise that nearly ever team steps up when they play against the years previous Premiers. About time they gave us some recognition, all it seems to be these days is, they are cruising to wins and playing half hearted, ect. A win is a win, in my book! and I'm very happy with them all being non losses.
I very rarely pay much attention to media commentators. However, they'd probably have a point, in saying that we aren't playing great football by our own standards.
As much as I'm happy to have a win, I tend to think that games are becoming somewhat predicatable and even un-entertaining at times.
We seem to be play 1 or 2 good quarters per game, with the rest being a frustrating goal-for-goal tussle with average skills.
I certainly don't want us to out-do ourselves early in the season, but at the same time, there's still plenty of room for improvement. For instance, moving the ball into our forward-line, as well as our shots on goal.
So far, I'd say our forward play has been VERY average.
Think this"expectation" thing just demonstrates how difficult it is to stay at the top of the tree.
If you give someone a belting, it was only to be expected and you are arrogant as well. If you win by a relatively small margin, you were half-hearted and if you lose, just about everyone in the football world is happy except your Coach and your own supporters.
Even your own supporters can get complacent and maybe a touch bored with "ordinary" wins.
Personally, I never get bored with winning. I just keep reminding myself of the bad old days and how much I prefer 2 , 3 or 4 goal wins to getting belted by 12 goals or more.
Enjoy being on top while you can. The day will eventually come when we will be middle of the road or worse.
Then we'll all be longing for those "ordinary" wins and reminiscing about the "good old days".
Originally posted by luthor
Enjoy being on top while you can. The day will eventually come when we will be middle of the road or worse.
Spot on. Enjoy the moment. The 'ageing' nature of our squad is emphasised by all these milestone games - 200 games to Michael and Nigel, 300 to Marcus - plus the looming breakup of the squad at season's end puts huge pressure on the club in retention, recruitment, injury management and push back to Melbourne interests.
But we MUST beat the Blues at PP. That's not much to ask is it ? If you thought Pies fans are feral, try a gaggle of Blues psychos in your ear all day.
cjwalkley
5 May 2003, 11:38
Good teams win ugly, that is a fact. The Lions cannot be expected to win every game by 10 goals, and especially not when they are playing interstate. If the Lions had kicked accurately yesterday, the win would have been in the vicinity of 5-6 goals, which on the road is a great effort.
The media commentators who wrap up the opposition and cast aspersions upon the Lions are only trying to sensationalise, which is their job. They need to keep people listening week after week. As the Lions have stated, they are hunting anyone who thinks they are good enough for a crack at the title, and this theory falls down when you are playing very mediocre teams, thus the mediocre performances.
Mr Ripper
5 May 2003, 12:00
I agree with Stocka. We're doing enough to win; but playing in fits and bursts. God help the opposition if we ever decide to string four quarters together. :o
My concern is the flirtation with form - a big no-no in days of old - seems to be the accepted way in modern football. Just hope it doesn't come back to haunt us when it really matters.
rchowell
5 May 2003, 15:35
Exactly right ripper. I got no worries with winning by two or three goals every week, it's when the lads get to Round 8 and they come up against the Crows. One or two quarters will be nowhere near enough. And they won't want to underestimate the Swans this week either...
Originally posted by rchowell
Exactly right ripper. I got no worries with winning by two or three goals every week, it's when the lads get to Round 8 and they come up against the Crows.
That's right. I think a few of us from BigFooty had better take control of the club for the next few weeks, just to make sure of things.
Ok. Everyone! Listen to me . . . :mad:
I suppose we could take account of our starting the pre-season four weeks later than most teams. I'm hoping we haven't peaked yet. I'm also hoping we are pacing ourselves with a view to having something left in the tank for big games and September.
We HAVE had an arduous start to the season with all the away games. Hopefully, this means we will have an easier run later in the season. I think most teams would be happy to have our away record, not to mention our overall record.
Given all of this, if we lose momentum because of only playing for one quarter, it's very difficult to regain it. Then again this could all be part of a great plan, to which we're not privy. Still a lot better than Fitzroy's last five seasons, or 1998.
pedrothelioness
5 May 2003, 17:41
The good thing i can take from it, is that we've not been playing well yet still winning. I would have the Lions on song at the end of the year, which has been pretty evident in the last two years. If anything we started ordinary the last two years, and did lose 5 games last year, we just seemed to be winning them by a lot more last yr.
I agree that a win is better than a loss but a couple of the wins have been ordinary or scrappy. It won't take long before opposition teams sit down and look at the tapes of the games so far this year and work out that the Lions aren't playing all four quarters.
I think it was during the Collingwood game a comment was made about how much damage the Lions do in the "red zone" of a quarter. As an aside, gotta luv how the commentators keep coming up with jargon to try to keep it interesting. In the Collingwood game, the Lions did hit back in the end parts of the quarter. Their third and even fourth quarters have been where they have been stepping up, but I hope that isn't the game plan.
What happens if a key player in kick starting the "red zone" play is injured? What if we lose the ruck, the midfielders are injured or very well tagged and can't get the ball out? This is where it would start to fall down and if there is a plan B, or C then it needs to be kicked in and hope the players have practiced it enough to be able to pull it off with precision. They also have to have their heads about them and not revert to trying to match the opposition's game, which you can often see when a team is getting beaten and they don't follow their game plan but adapt and try to match a game plan they can't play and often don't know how to execute.
The forward line was an issue last season as well. At times it has been a matter of kicking it forward and appearing to hope that someone is there to mark it. Lynch, Bradshaw and Brown will more than likely going to have two players on them at times, as was the case with Bradshaw on Sunday at times. The opposition have also gotten aware of the crumbers who wait for the above three to bring the ball down to ground if they can't take a clean possession.
I think they also need to have a statement on the wall of the change rooms, or on their hands, "between the two big sticks"!
Originally posted by Shaz
I agree that a win is better than a loss but a couple of the wins have been ordinary or scrappy. It won't take long before opposition teams sit down and look at the tapes of the games so far this year and work out that the Lions aren't playing all four quarters.
It only took a quarter to blow away the Pies meticulous game plan. We'll obviously lose eventually - but last year we weren't smashed ( maybe the Eagles ) and we won the flag.
funghoul
6 May 2003, 20:37
win is a win...but what ive noticed is how good the defence has been especially mal micheal and chrissy johnson...these two have been on fire...
hasnt been great big wins but there a re great signs still in the team