Tough day, but...

[Husk]

Finals are great for exposing those players who are pretender's.

I'm not going to point fingers, but I was not at all surprised by some of the performances today.

 

[Ischenko]

If we'd rested half the team we would have been accused of flirting with form.
Would have been a diabolical mistake to rest players out of a team that has really started to gel.
And who've played some f***en scintillating football.
Obviously there's stuff to work on, but the positives of this season (despite today) so outweigh the negatives it's off the charts.

 

[Errol Street]

Can't help but look for the negatives today, huh?

I'm no expert, but I'd wager it takes more than a week off for blokes with little AFL experience to refresh enough to match what we saw from WCE today.

Let's be honest it's hard to see anything positive out of today's game. We were beaten all round. Some player tried and did ok, a lot didn't have any impact.

The Mexican wave was the final insult, dont know if they showed it on the TV,

Seriously WA football crowds are bizarre...Mexican wave wtf, pathetic. Doesn't feel like a real football crowd going to the football over here and I've flown into both games here this year.

 

[BeinPurplenGreen]

You blokes had a few at the Imperial watching the game - very passionate mob they were. Credit to your club, and also a decent bunch to talk to. Hang in there Shinboners, you'll bash the jub-jubs out of over-rated over-hyped numb-nuts nick nat next year. Get Wells, Adams and HMac healthy, add a full pre-season in to your younger mids, and draft a few solid backmen and you will be top 6 next year too...

BpG

 

[Dark Sharks]

You people are actually going to be barracking for the pies?

Good god, it's not the eagles fault you sucked today. There has to be a loser. No need to lose the plot over it.

 

[mark73]

You people are actually going to be barracking for the pies?

Good god, it's not the eagles fault you sucked today. There has to be a loser. No need to lose the plot over it.

Apart from some posts in anger, I don't think anyone was suggesting it was the Eagles fault. Kudos to them, they were awesome.

And no, I'll be barracking for the Eagles.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Crap. We have played WCE twice this season and have been more than competitive, whats the excuse this time!

We gave up and played like we did against the Hawks in Tassie, that's the reality.

Seriously, if this wasnt the last game in the season you bloke would be blowing your lids...what a joke.

You were the one in your earlier post saying those sides all had the wood over North - now we we "more than competitive" when we played them in the H&A, even in Perth?

The last game in the season often blows out, you have to look at it differently. And it's good to step back and look at the whole season, during which we saw some major steps forward, especially in confidence and skills to beat good teams. Carrying that confidence interstate more regularly and keeping the quality up for longer will be the next important steps, and we'll be cheering those as we cheered beating the Cats, Saints and Pies this year.

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Being cooked 2 weeks ago isn't an excuse, it's called bad player management. We could have rested half the team against GWS if we " were cooked".

I assume, if I could be arsed, I could find your posts over the last few weeks detailing your superior player management strategies?

 

[Hearts to hearts]

I can say arsed, too? What a treasure trove of acceptable expressions this 24 hours is turning out to be.

 

[Hard_to_Beat]

You people are actually going to be barracking for the pies?

Good god, it's not the eagles fault you sucked today. There has to be a loser. No need to lose the plot over it.

I can't ever choose a generic business over an actual football club.

Go Pies!

 

[NMFC1869]

You blokes had a few at the Imperial watching the game - very passionate mob they were. Credit to your club, and also a decent bunch to talk to. Hang in there Shinboners, you'll bash the jub-jubs out of over-rated over-hyped numb-nuts nick nat next year. Get Wells, Adams and HMac healthy, add a full pre-season in to your younger mids, and draft a few solid backmen and you will be top 6 next year too...

BpG

Was good chatting to you at half time. Good luck against the Crows this week.

 

[THRILLHO]

The Mexican wave was the final insult, dont know if they showed it on the TV,

They did. While we were fumbling attacking our way up the wing.

It was humiliating.

 

[astrovic]

They did. While we were fumbling attacking our way up the wing.

It was humiliating.

....and one of 1,001,456,456 occasions on which Ch 7 chose to show something irrelevant instead of the actual footy.

 

[Horace]

....and one of 1,001,456,456 occasions on which Ch 7 chose to show something irrelevant instead of the actual footy.

Ch 7 have reached new lows in how they televise football this year. The TV coverage back in the 60's when there was around one camera more of less fixed on the whole ground was better than the crap they are serving up to us at present.

 

[smiddy9]

My highlight of yesterday was clapping the boys off after the game as proud as anything
Sure it was disappointing game but to see all the supporters stay behind in our block and still clap our boys off was remarkable!!
Truly proves we have the best supporter base there may not be as many of us but **** we are the most loyal!!
Saw a few duck off and wasnt impressed but to everyone who stayed behind i know you see the optimism this group has!!
Bring on 2013!!!

 

[Event Horizon]

By the way, given it's fashionable on this board to criticise Sydney's style of play and Ross Lyon, it may be worth thinking if our style of play can actually work under real pressure. Yes it looks good when it works, but in all seriousness, Sydney plays finals type footy every week, and finds it easy to adapt to finals footy, and to beat the Eagles in Perth on regular basis.

 

[Kimbo]

You people are actually going to be barracking for the pies?

Good god, it's not the eagles fault you sucked today. There has to be a loser. No need to lose the plot over it.

Damn right! Weagles supporters make it a lay down misere.

 

[Errol Street]

I assume, if I could be arsed, I could find your posts over the last few weeks detailing your superior player management strategies?

Not my job I don't get paid for that. Before the game we were saying we were one of the fittest teams in the AFL.

 

[DeputyViceCaptain]

You know when you hit the post three times in a row in the first quarter and there's three high-diddle-diddle replies down the other end it's not going to be your day. It was the Eagles day. We were towelled.

Our backline is not up to it at the moment. We'll have to suck it up. But, we know we'll be back next year.

I'm on Freo now, except for that little gobsh1te Ballantyne. Hope he does a hammy or gets reported.

A Freo - West Coast GF would be a ripper.

 

[Kimbo]

A Freo - West Coast GF would be a ripper.

Spare me!

 

[BlueandWhiteElf]

Good OP.

Yesterday was a nightmare.

But there was one thing that really got my heart going yesterday.

Jack Ziebell.

His first final. We were getting massacred. The heat, the crowd, the hurricane of West Coast on song. Half of the North players having conceded mentally.

And Jack did what he did.

Under intense adversity, he racked clearance after clearance with merciless attack on the ball and the man.

That will always stay with me.

He is born to play finals.

(Not to detract from Swallow or Cunnington's games).

 

[Carnthe]

Still think we've got a lot of improvement left in us. It was a terribly disappointing result but as has been mentioned 3 posters that the Eagles rebounded for goals - we just didn't have the mental or physical endurance to counter that. Though we did compete in the middle two quarters.

Some more perspective: there was 8 premiership players v 13 finals debutants. If the fire is in the belly then they will be better for the experience.

 

[CharlieMortdecai]

A few positives there from swiper. Good to see.

Can anyone tell me what site to go to for the average age, average games played etc for this game? would be good to have a look. The HS site used to have quite a bit of this stuff in the lead up to a game, but (at least at the start of the year) didn't have it. Anyone?

Haven't read the whole thread, so may have been answered already, but AFL tables is the go:

http://stats.rleague.com/afl/afl_index.html

Here are the match stats from yesterday:

http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/games/2012/121820120909.html

I was looking at the very thing you mentioned so I'll put it here for comparison:

2012 - Average age 24years 298 days, 2109 games
2008 - Average age 25 years 294 days, 2691 games
2007 (vs Port) - Average age 25 years 124 days, 2458 games.

My view is that yesterday's loss is not as bad as previous finals beltings because we are now a team on the rise, whereas previous losses since 1999, were either a team on the slow decline or cobbled together to tread water and maintain ladder position.

And 1993?

Average age 25 years 154 days, 1937 games. Extrapolating that to a 22 man team is 2130 games.

 

[CharlieMortdecai]

You people are actually going to be barracking for the pies?

Good god, it's not the eagles fault you sucked today. There has to be a loser. No need to lose the plot over it.

Look I know every club has their dickheads, and it was just my misfortune to be seated near a few yesterday, but fair dinkum I'm going to find it hard to support the Eagles after listening to some blokes abuse the umpires from start to finish yesterday. I don't think I've ever seen anybody get so angry and abusive (at completely correct desicions mind you) when their team was 10 goals up and cruising to victory. Just bizarre and kind of soured the day further for me.

So I might just pass on Eagles/Pies and hope the Hawks smash whoever they get.

 

[CharlieMortdecai]

A Freo - West Coast GF would be a ripper.

Spare me!

I haven't read the papers or watched the news, but I'm sure this is a lead story now, the fact that it's a possibility. Bleugh!