Are you making up excuses why we aren't beating the best teams?

[Caracas]

Ok, I'll just list it and leave it at that:-

(1) Nobody, but nobody beats an up and about Geelong team when you lose 4 players in the first quarter. Factoid.
(2) Nobody, but nobody beats the triple premiers when you boot eighteen behinds and are missing 9/10 of your best 22.
(3) Absolutely nobody will beat an up and about Adelaide in AAMI after two six-day breaks and missing 9/10 of your best 22.

To expect otherwise would be the height of hubris. The above are absolutely valid excuses, reasons, call them what you will, to my mind. However, the bottom line is, we lost. The good news is that we were up to our necks in all those games well into the last quarter. Based on that, if we get half our players back (including Wells) we should win all our remaining games. If we don't, then the above excuses don't hold water.

 

[wolvesRoos]

So far, I am not too worried... I am annoyed about our injuries of course but I am still confident we can beat all of those sides if we get a near full strength team back, especially if Goldy comes good and Wells is fit for finals... Dont forget we apparently had flu for the Swans game

 

[hilly]

Let's stay calm. Our next game is still 14 days away. If, and it's a big if, we win our next four, then I see no reason we can't get points from the final month.

 

[Horace]

I'm sorry, but that is s**t. If anything we've been more competitive than a lot thought given the circumstances. It looks bad because we haven't won the 3 so called big ones. I missed the first quarter on Thursday but watched the rest and saw the Hawthorn and Geelong games and I'm pretty comfortable from what I saw all 3 would've been wins with a decent squad. We are carrying a few passengers at the moment but that's because of injuries. We've also found a player in Wagner. It was also a mistake leaving Daw out. I would've dropped Brown. But overall given the circumstances we're doing what we can.

I agree. And I will add that I don't like the word "excuses" but instead I believe the real word is "reasons".

Pedantic, maybe, but the word "excuse" relates more to when someone does not necessarily want to accept the reality of any situation.

As I said in a post some time ago, imagine if instead of Swallow, Cunnington, Dal Santo and Nahas being out of, or hobbled before quarter time against Geelong, it had have been the other way, say Selwood, Caddy, Guthrie and Lang in the same category, out of or hobbled before quarter time, what would have been the result?

My answer is a confident, we would have won. And with Spitta and Cunners in against Hawthorn, in my opinion we would have won. (Yes Hawthorn were minus Hodge but we were without Waite, Higgins, Jacobs and Wright to name a few)

You cannot ignore the reality of the impact of the loss through injury of one of your better players in particular, especially during a game.

And the reality also is that you never replace any player with your next best player, you at best replace them with someone outside your best 22. We actually saw that in practice in Round 23 last year when we rested half the team. We were courageous for the first half, but after half time, Richmond ran over us comfortably; and their first win against for quite some time. The status quo was re-established in Hobart this year.

 

[StiffArm]

As I've seen it we were flat against Sydney with a bunch of flu going around (Petrie had no voice the following days on his media rounds, word was it was right through the club and Brad was hospitalised the next week).

Even so, that was the game I felt we were most off the pace.

The other three we've lost players before quarter time. I think that's cumulatively had a massive effect. We were running through treacle last quarter against adelaide.

Hawthorn game we should have won even with the setbacks.

 

[Caracas]

To me, the fact we lost all four of the Swans, Cats, Hawks and Crows games suggests a lack of mental toughness. At the risk of sounding like an old(ish) d*ckhead, the premiership calibre North teams of the past would've willed themselves over the line in at least a couple of those games. I just don't see that sort of grit in the current group, especially the more mature players.

I do hope we haven't forgotten the "No Carey, no North jibes already". Our '97 finals campaign really fizzled out once Archer & Schwass were ruled out and we lost Corey in the first quarter.

 

[Whereitallbegan]

Had a very brief chat with JZ today, asked him when we were going to start winning again, he assured me it would be next game, so nothing to worry about boys and girls, life's good as a kangas supporter

 

[franjon]

Wells, Higgins, Waite, McDonald, Anderson, Garner, Wright, Jacobs.

Seems like a defensible "excuse" to me.

And to most actual football followers.

 

[Roozee]

Bloody oath. Anything I can shamelessly cling to to tell myself it's not as bad as it seems - injuries, umpires, bye mismatches, injuries, tanking, goalkicking, injuries, team selection, the AFL, injuries