Autopsy/Ranting thread keep it all in here.

[Slattery_20]

We sure did have a period of running over them in general play.

Unfortunately we missed a bunch of chances during that time...Essendon finally then go forward and kick a goal... that must be absolutely sapping.

If we kicked those goals, who knows. But we need the mental toughness to stick those marks and kick those goals (looking at you Waite too).

Think that was a really important patch, too. Seemed to me the Blues sat back, conserved legs, in the 2nd happy to limit the damage. Came out firing in the 3rd - we were being outrun, or sat back. Some result for that would've made it interesting.

Waite still doesn't play deep enough, often enough, for mine. Too much around wing/HF. That works - brilliantly - when the other sides' allowing space behind for the smaller guys to run onto but when it's tight, he needs to step up, and clunk them close to goals. Bulk of his marks & shots seemed to be from 35+ out.

 

[blue healer]

Well it seems like you guys will still be underestimating us come Rnd 21 too..

Likening this to 95 is laughable.. we weren't some cellar dwelling team that played out of their skins to beat you, we will be a Top 6 team this year and you may well still be a Top 4 team.. but I would argue that you, as a club, should not take clashes against fellow finals teams lightly.

AFL teams in the top 6-12 are often VERY close in terms of skills etc.. luck, injuries, form and intensity play big factors in victory or defeat. Bombers have also suffered for many years by not being able to get 'up' against the teams that are near us but need to be beaten.. (Port/North/Tigers) I always believed it was a mental thing and maybe your guys need to take a look at what happens to a potentially good season when you start to lose games you had pencilled in for a win.. looks ugly fairly quickly.

Sorry, the reference wasn't meant as a comparison to Essendon circa '12 merely as an example that a loss doesn't define a season or serve as a permanent example of a teams weaknesses.

You are right there is not a lot between the top teams in most years and the combination of one team playing near their best and the other well below it can be ugly.

I don't know whether our players took yours too lightly (hope not after Rattens warnings) but I do know many of our posters did.

Bottom line is Essendon were too good and many older fans were always concerned about the game. I was sorely tempted by the $7 but just can't bring myself to bet against my team. Perhaps I should have as I don't back a lot of winners.

 

[RobGal]

Let's be honest, this was almost identical to the Pies game for us, but in reverse. Last week, our intensity was up, Pies got injuries, and we took full advantage of it. This week, for some reason or another, we lacked energy, lost Carrots early, Laids/Yazz/Curnow all played under duress and they were able to capitalize. I remember looking and Murph and Simmo at the beginning of the last qtr and thinking "how stuffed are these guys". They could barely run. I reckon the only 2 players that can hold their heads high are Murph and Hendo. They both tried extremely hard. We will never win a flag if we kick for goal the way we do. Waite and Simmo are the main culprits. They are extremely unreliable from set shots. I am never confident when they're lining up.

As much as I hate losing to the scum, I would hope we won't suffer the same bad luck during the game next time. It was just one of those days for us whereby everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. For them, it was the opposite. Still, I am disappointed with the intensity we showed.

This is exactly what I was saying at the game! Funny how cruel the footy gods are. One week you are on top of the world flogging a team depleted by injuries and the next week the same happens to you! It was also almost like 2011 versus Essendon, where they lost two players before half time, but unlike the Dons last year, we could pull something special out of the hat and come home with a draw.
Between injuries and having a bad day at the office for most of the team, meant that we would never win the game. All I can say, hope the footy gods will be a little leanient to us next week in the West.

 

[ESKIE]

Well it seems like you guys will still be underestimating us come Rnd 21 too..

Likening this to 95 is laughable.. we weren't some cellar dwelling team that played out of their skins to beat you, we will be a Top 6 team this year and you may well still be a Top 4 team.. but I would argue that you, as a club, should not take clashes against fellow finals teams lightly.

AFL teams in the top 6-12 are often VERY close in terms of skills etc.. luck, injuries, form and intensity play big factors in victory or defeat. Bombers have also suffered for many years by not being able to get 'up' against the teams that are near us but need to be beaten.. (Port/North/Tigers) I always believed it was a mental thing and maybe your guys need to take a look at what happens to a potentially good season when you start to lose games you had pencilled in for a win.. looks ugly fairly quickly.

Seems you've forgotten your last Finals effort

But at the moment you have the bragging rights

 

[ESKIE]

Now that I've had some time to calm down and think, it doesn't seem as bad.

We were pretty even with CP, even had more hard ball gets IINM or would've atleast broke even. We had 1 MORE mark I50 than they did, took 2 more contested marks, 5 more inside 50's. Only 3 less Clearances even though it felt like we got smashed in that department.

Here's the negatives; -20 uncontested possessions, nearly 40 less kicks but 20 more handballs which shows we stuffed around with it when we had it, we took 2 more contested marks yet they still had 27 more marks than us overall. We didn't work hard enough simple as that. Yes we had 4 injured players, but only 1 was serious, the other 3 were still able to play but Laidler was clearly struggling. Now here's the biggest one for me, 15 more clangers. For a side that's meant to have more talent and skill it shocks me to see something like that. There's no excuse for that, you can't blame rotations that's the unbelievable stat for me.

Now, one could argue that tired players don't dispose of the ball as effectively and can't chase as hard because the rotations hurt us. To that I say that's a bullshit excuse. We were running all over them in the last quarter (you know, when the effect of less rotations should have hurt us the most) Where we lost the game was that DREADFUL second quarter. We were even playing all over them for most of the third quarter but couldn't convert set shots if our lives depended on it, whereas they'd take it off the rebound and score goals.

The mistakes in decision making were unreal for a side claiming they want to finish top 4. In that third quarter, Murphy was running towards goal from about 40 out directly in front and instead of taking the shot, he decides to try and pass to Betts who has Fletcher right on him. Waite missing a shit load of set shots, Simpson missing them on the run. It was so uncharacteristic.

I would love to just call this one an aberration, but it's happened too many times against this mob. They just worked harder to spread and provide options for their team mates. That's why they had a lot more uncontested possessions and that's why we were beat. And this is what frustrates the lot of us the most because if there's any team that we want them to bring full intesity against it's this mob and when we play them with a lack of effort it stings bad.

After watching how hard the Hawks and Eagles were going at it it's no surprise we lost to these teams last year. The Bombers have the ability to bring the hard edge game but they aren't consistent enough with it and when the season reaches the later stages their intensity drops off which is the reason why we belted them the last 2 times prior to yesterday.

We keep cracking against teams willing to come at us hard. It's almost like we get intimidated and crawl up into a ball and say this is too hard for us. The good news is, Ratten said this in response to the loss yesterday so at least he's aware of it and will definitely address it to the playing group.

Now, I expect us to bounce back hard and win every game until we play the Eagles in Perth and the Hawks. We need to be hard at every single contest and smash teams into the ground not just belt them based on our skill and talent.

Good post, we know anything can happen in these games v this lot

Not sure we showed them enough respect, Bombers certainly didn;t show GC any last week...

I expect us to bounce back as well,

 

[rines]

No I haven't forgotten our finals 'effort' (in fact our last 2)..

We limped in to the finals last year and by the end of the season had around 25 fit blokes to pick our top 22 from. We were depleted and had put every ounce of energy into making the finals in the first place. We were also a fairly young team adopting a new coaching method and game plan.

You deservedly beat us in Rnd 21 and then repeated the dose in the EF. No excuses, no complaining (well I did a little) and you deserved to win.

That bears NO impact at ALL on yesterday's game. We have a fairly even list that is coping with the injury set backs this year. We are one year further down our development. Stanton, Crameri, Hooker, Pears, Hibberd, Jetta, Ryder and Bellchambers have all improved significantly. We are now more comfortable with our coaching staff and game plan.

I still would not go as far to say that we are the BETTER team or that we will beat you again as a certainness but merely that we are NOT the woeful team many of your posters seem to think. Expectations of a 10 goal win were absolutely ridiculous. Odds of $7 were unbelievable especially considering you could only get $5.10 for richmond to beat the Cats IN geelong!!!

You guys have a tough game against Freo and I hope you prepare properly for it or you could find yourselves 3-2 and back with the pack.

I won't say good luck cause I just can't find it in myself but I am looking forward to Rnd 21 with sweet sweet anticipation!!

 

[ESKIE]

No I haven't forgotten our finals 'effort' (in fact our last 2)..

We limped in to the finals last year and by the end of the season had around 25 fit blokes to pick our top 22 from. We were depleted and had put every ounce of energy into making the finals in the first place. We were also a fairly young team adopting a new coaching method and game plan.

You deservedly beat us in Rnd 21 and then repeated the dose in the EF. No excuses, no complaining (well I did a little) and you deserved to win.

That bears NO impact at ALL on yesterday's game. We have a fairly even list that is coping with the injury set backs this year. We are one year further down our development. Stanton, Crameri, Hooker, Pears, Hibberd, Jetta, Ryder and Bellchambers have all improved significantly. We are now more comfortable with our coaching staff and game plan.

I still would not go as far to say that we are the BETTER team or that we will beat you again as a certainness but merely that we are NOT the woeful team many of your posters seem to think. Expectations of a 10 goal win were absolutely ridiculous. Odds of $7 were unbelievable especially considering you could only get $5.10 for richmond to beat the Cats IN geelong!!!

You guys have a tough game against Freo and I hope you prepare properly for it or you could find yourselves 3-2 and back with the pack.

I won't say good luck cause I just can't find it in myself but I am looking forward to Rnd 21 with sweet sweet anticipation!!

Don;t under estimate the loss of Carrazzo, running player at the start of the match...

No doubt you guys came to play, yesterday and the result reflected that

We also had injuries in the final last year, limping in....sorry no excuses

I really can;t wait for Round 21

It;s only Round 4,

 

[blue gunslinger]

No I haven't forgotten our finals 'effort' (in fact our last 2)..

We limped in to the finals last year and by the end of the season had around 25 fit blokes to pick our top 22 from. We were depleted and had put every ounce of energy into making the finals in the first place. We were also a fairly young team adopting a new coaching method and game plan.

You deservedly beat us in Rnd 21 and then repeated the dose in the EF. No excuses, no complaining (well I did a little) and you deserved to win.

That bears NO impact at ALL on yesterday's game. We have a fairly even list that is coping with the injury set backs this year. We are one year further down our development. Stanton, Crameri, Hooker, Pears, Hibberd, Jetta, Ryder and Bellchambers have all improved significantly. We are now more comfortable with our coaching staff and game plan.

I still would not go as far to say that we are the BETTER team or that we will beat you again as a certainness but merely that we are NOT the woeful team many of your posters seem to think. Expectations of a 10 goal win were absolutely ridiculous. Odds of $7 were unbelievable especially considering you could only get $5.10 for richmond to beat the Cats IN geelong!!!

You guys have a tough game against Freo and I hope you prepare properly for it or you could find yourselves 3-2 and back with the pack.

I won't say good luck cause I just can't find it in myself but I am looking forward to Rnd 21 with sweet sweet anticipation!!

the result yesterday had nothing to do with IF you are a good or average team. the result was because we played crap football and GWS would have been able to account for us

 

[pumped]

More than anything think yesterday showed that we still lack composure under pressure. Injuries and the plan the Dons put into our midfield were a factor however this didn't cause the poor decision making and fumbles. We have the talent however we must work deeply into our emotional strength. This is something that has been our biggest issue for many years and whilst improving is still present. Another factor is our forward set up structure, or lack thereof and our delivery which is poor and also related to the lack of composure. In the past this has been blamed on us being a young side. This is no longer an excuse.

 

[The Coach]

I'm pretty confused all-round about what happened yesterday. I didn't feel we "played like millionaires", because it wasn't showing off or being overly fancy that let us down. It was basics. Fumbled marks, fumbled gathers, guys falling over in contests. I lost count of how many scrubbed kicks we launched inside fifty. 12m kicks along the ground, or picking out a Essendon defender all alone. It was as though we turned up and were surprised there was a football game on.

Belted in clearances, definitely, but going forward... I can't remember a long kick where Hampson was the actual target? Instead of our "nominated kickers" delivering the ball it was Robinson on the left under pressure -> direct turnover. It was just a debacle. Very disappointing. Letting Stanton get THAT off the chain is also embarrassing. Are we saying Carrots is the only mid we have with a defensive game? WTF? How does a midfielder take 15+ uncontested marks without getting some serious attention.

Bah. Shocker.

Shocker indeed. I think Carrots is the only one in todays team that can handle a run with role on a fastish player (using more than just his stamina and reasonable speed). Other options are JR (if trained for the role) and AJ but he could do with a little more talent (ie to occasionally hurt the opposn going the other way)

Midfield rotations including Curnow, Mclean, Carrazzo, Robinson & Scotland is far too slow for a game plan built on speed and spread.

For sure. The other option is to back Juddy and Murph to star - to do this the players you mention above have to become smart and learn to block

 

[blue healer]

the result yesterday had nothing to do with IF you are a good or average team. the result was because we played crap football and GWS would have been able to account for us

Ever think, Guns that one of the reasons we played crap football was because the Bombers played better football.

I have a pet hate that whenever we beat or stretch a team that is considered better than us that teams supporters, and often the media, claim the opposition were below their best and give no credit to how well we may have played.

A little credit doesn't hurt sometimes and I don't think he was trolling.

Just saying

 

[Slattery_20]

I can understand the calls of 'anomaly' or 'played above themselves' if we hadn't won a game all year, had come off a bad loss, or had come off a very very bad season. Clearly, neither are the case.

 

[AB_Blue]

First off I love this club and I have been to both matches in melb this year (which is a fair drive from the county)
After watching last week agianst the pies I thought this was gonna be easy. Obviously so did the 22 blokes who ran out there yesterday!!


It was a Deplorable, discusting effort. WHY DO THEY GO DOWN MEDIA STREET!!

We cant handle it, dont say we can when we cant. Heads down asses up work for eachother and hunt the ****ing footy. And when ur best tagger goes down how about you get ur back up and get into them instead of lying down looking for easy hollywood ball. How many ****ing times did they get out the back and spread and stream into the 50 for easy goals. seriouslt they should have beaten us by 10 goals and would of if they had kicked straight. REALLY PISSED OFF with that effort (or lack there of)

 

[Lukesta63]

Crameri and Essendon as a whole did not do anything out of the ordinary, all they had to do was wait for us to turn it over or kick it straight to them. I can not believe how many times we kicked it straight to them and how many passes we kicked that got intercepted.

They missed as many shots as we did, the umps got decisions wrong for both sides. We just simply sucked and did not resemble the way we played Rd1,2&3

Mate they had 2-3 extra players at stoppages! Did we counter this at all ?? Noooooo! In the last qtr (I think) we had 16 I-50's for no score.Lonergan puts down Carazzo whether intentional or not ,do we respond and rough them up ?? Noooooooooooooo!
And finally we had to go and pull ourselves all last week after the filth game and crap on how good we were,and it happened again!

Ask yourself how many times has Essendon gone in underdogs and beaten us??
Plenty !

They'll lose on Wednesday because beating us was enough!!!

Now to endure the idiots at work

**** I hate Essendon!!!!

 

[blue gunslinger]

Ever think, Guns that one of the reasons we played crap football was because the Bombers played better football.

I have a pet hate that whenever we beat or stretch a team that is considered better than us that teams supporters, and often the media, claim the opposition were below their best and give no credit to how well we may have played.

A little credit doesn't hurt sometimes and I don't think he was trolling.

Just saying

they played well but I think we made them look good. Effort levels, work away from the ball, second efforts, set shots, poor decisions...these things were under our control. It would not have taken much to get into gear. Well done for Ess having a good game plan, good structure and the desire to execute. If we were a legit chance we would have these qualities week in and out

 

[blues4flag]

Boys need to hurt. The window doesn't stay open forever. Carrazzo is one giving his all to achieve the ultimate success. A few of our boys are approaching the end and it's almost now or never for some.

 

[Just Kreuzing]

they played well but I think we made them look good. Effort levels, work away from the ball, second efforts, set shots, poor decisions...these things were under our control. It would not have taken much to get into gear. Well done for Ess having a good game plan, good structure and the desire to execute. If we were a legit chance we would have these qualities week in and out

Agree Guns, but dont forget skill level/field kicking etc. Just dont think laying the ball at right angles across your boot and kicking it blindly will ever get it done.

 

[blue healer]

they played well but I think we made them look good. Effort levels, work away from the ball, second efforts, set shots, poor decisions...these things were under our control. It would not have taken much to get into gear. Well done for Ess having a good game plan, good structure and the desire to execute. If we were a legit chance we would have these qualities week in and out

Yeah when I look at this post from all angles I can't disagree with any of it.

Without being at the ground and therefore strictly from a TV viewing I can't think of anyone, other than Murphy, who played anywhere near their best.

 

[blue gunslinger]

Agree Guns, but dont forget skill level/field kicking etc. Just dont think laying the ball at right angles across your boot and kicking it blindly will ever get it done.

thinking quickly off the top of my head
poor goal shots by Sugar and Waite
pathetic hand passes by Brock
Yarrans lazy kick across the ground into defensive 50
Murphy going for a short pass from 30m out to the top of the square when he is free and he is kicking to a small covered by fletcher
waite dribbling the ball kick
not pointing at individuals but collectively -ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

[Just Kreuzing]

thinking quickly off the top of my head
poor goal shots by Sugar and Waite
pathetic hand passes by Brock
Yarrans lazy kick across the ground into defensive 50
Murphy going for a short pass from 30m out to the top of the square when he is free and he is kicking to a small covered by fletcher
waite dribbling the ball kick
not pointing at individuals but collectively -ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

3 regulation misses by Simpson, 1 from Eddie
Robinson trying to take on and evade tacklers and bombing forward 50 entries blindly to opposition players,
Mcleans tumble punts forward to opposition players and 1 foot handballs which put his team mates under the pump.
Tuohy dropping easy mark,
Bower's defensive efforts and general decision making and skill level,
Every player that never went when they had to go etc.....

 

[Silvagnis]

Ever think, Guns that one of the reasons we played crap football was because the Bombers played better football.

I have a pet hate that whenever we beat or stretch a team that is considered better than us that teams supporters, and often the media, claim the opposition were below their best and give no credit to how well we may have played.

A little credit doesn't hurt sometimes and I don't think he was trolling.

Just saying

Think guns is saying that we're not a ten goal better side than Collingwood who were off from the first bounce last week. Even the best sides can't get over the line if they're off by five per cent and carrying injuries. Nothing like the performances that we've seen this year. We couldn't hit the side of a barn one week after everything went through against the Pies.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

the result yesterday had nothing to do with IF you are a good or average team. the result was because we played crap football and GWS would have been able to account for us

see, all due respect, but this is rubbish. You play as well as your opponent lets you.

I didn't see you saying you only won last week because Collingwood were rubbish. No, you quite rightly lauded your superior intensity and the fact that you MADE THEM look like shit.

We did the same to you. So many posts on this board saying that you were that superior to us that it didn't matter what we did, it was all about whether your brung it or not.

At some point, you know, you have to give credit to the opposition. Maybe Essendon aren't as shit as many of you thought?

EDIT: I hadn't seen this when I posted:

they played well but I think we made them look good. Effort levels, work away from the ball, second efforts, set shots, poor decisions...these things were under our control. It would not have taken much to get into gear. Well done for Ess having a good game plan, good structure and the desire to execute. If we were a legit chance we would have these qualities week in and out

I think that's more reasonable, but it you didn't make us look good, we made you look bad. Sure, your intensity was down and that contributed, no problems there

 

[blue gunslinger]

see, all due respect, but this is rubbish. You play as well as your opponent lets you.

I didn't see you saying you only won last week because Collingwood were rubbish. No, you quite rightly lauded your superior intensity and the fact that you MADE THEM look like shit.

We did the same to you. So many posts on this board saying that you were that superior to us that it didn't matter what we did, it was all about whether your brung it or not.

At some point, you know, you have to give credit to the opposition. Maybe Essendon aren't as shit as many of you thought?

EDIT: I hadn't seen this when I posted:



I think that's more reasonable, but it you didn't make us look good, we made you look bad. Sure, your intensity was down and that contributed, no problems there

No I am pretty sure if you looked I did mention that Coll were a shadow of themselves and you have just highlighted what I said pre-game
Destiny was in OUR hands. We played crap and lost If we had played well even for a qtr we would have won

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Destiny was in OUR hands. We played crap and lost If we had played well even for a qtr we would have won

hmmm ok, no point arguing about it, you're entitled to your opinion. I think we didn't let you play well, so let's agree to disagree and look forward to the next chapter in this epic rivalry

 

[audas]

Umm I was around in those days too and I remember a team that was knocked out in straight sets in '94 and tagged by all and sundry as being "too old - too slow". Also remember Parko saying we'd gone from the best side in the comp to the worst in 2 games.

You say we'd get a hiding from Eagles, Hawks and Cats, how do you account for an inferior team to this one going down by less than a kick to an Eagles side that was better than last nights?

Hawks and Cats have both lost 2 games so how much better are they really than us?

I saw your earlier post about last nights game and gotta say it was pretty ordinary. I would be confident that, if we played anywhere near our best, we'd handle both quite easily if that's all they can bring to the table.

Hair seems to be a serious issue with you, what is your preference mullet or SB&S and did you happen to notice some of the cuts on the Eagles boys?

Grow up, one swallow doesn't make a summer. We'll have bad games and be disappointed but as the season progresses I'm prepared to bet that there will be worse losses than that by top teams. Geelongs against North might already qualify.

Jibberish, really hard to follow - dont tell me to grow up - the coach has come out and flat out agreed with my points - so step back, there are some seriously pissed people, especially at the club. So they damn well should be.

If you think the 95 team was as shit as you are saying your just trying win an argument by sacrificing all reality - one of the greatest seasons of all time stupid, stupid comment.

You just want to dismiss a bloody ordinary performance - I can assure you the coach wouldn't, the team wouldn't and any supporter with an ounce of integrity wouldn't.

Just wanting to put shit like that aside reeks of mediocrity - I can smell the second place attitude from here.

There is no chance on earth - NONE we will win a flag with the effort put in last night - none.

As I said your post is jibberish ? Either way - have you watched the Eagles ? Seriously have you seen them play ? Hawks or Cats ?

There is no chance based on last nights performance that we would beat any of Hawks, Eagles or Cats - what ever your jibberish thinking is. NONE - and trying to say so makes you look really silly. Yes we got over a depressed and depleted Pies, struggled against Tigers for most of the game as well. Yesterday said more about us than any game this year.

The fact you have said the Blues could EASILY handle cats, eagles hawks or any of those teams quite easily clearly demonstrates you as someone who hasnt got a clue about where these teams are at and especially not the blues - we just got smashed by essendon - ffs. It upsets me that anyone could walk away from yesterdays performance - watch the Hawks Eagles game and then say that with a straight face - is out of this world.

Yeah - I, and I and plenty of others think the hollywood show boating, self indulgent overly groomed narcisstic carry on by some of the players who appear more interested in drawing attention to themselves need to pull their head in a bit - its embarrassing - there are players who have earned the right throughout history - Dermott being one - they earn the right. The blokes in Carltons team are the youngest, its so over the top. The fluorescent Orange and pink footy boots you're ok with this show boating crap from players who we are now relying on as our primary attackers but have decided that their contributions will only be cameo performances when they feel like it and its going to make them look good - and we'll leave the boring hard stuff for the lesser players. Garlett, Betts and Yarran USED TO BE OUR BEST TACKLERS when they came into the team - this appears to have gone out the window - and it appears to be coinciding with them being acknowledged in the media and them also wearing rock star shoes - yes - not really relevant but the statement they are sending to everyone speaks volumes - its NUMBER ELEVEN on the bullshit-o-meter.

EDIT: Just want to add here how much Walker is being missed in the team - I have no doubt that Walkers best at club attitude towards his planning, effort, training, second efforts etc are being missed by his fellow forwards and fleet footed indiginous mates - he sets a massive example to the blokes - he really does. He is so incredibly mature when it comes to being a hard working, conscientious, head down work horse - we are missing him as our probably number three player in the team as well - maybe even more valuable than that considering his role as midfielder, stopper on the best opposition, and number one goals scorer to boot - seriously ticks every box with a score of 100%.

I don't think it would be too hard for Ratten to ask these players to next week leave their yellow boots at home and instead bring their A game. It appears to be one or the other. Eddie two years ago was the junk time master - miraculously appearing only when the game was decided - he has definitely moved on from this which is great - I am now worried about Yarran and Garlett being in the same trap.

The point is mate - we have been through living hell over ten years - we should be more hungry than any team has ever been - and when we lose it is BECAUSE we have put in a gut busting effort and played our very best footy and come up short against a better team, then we can be dissapointed with the effort but live with the result.

THAT DID NOT HAPPEN - we played half arsed sloppy footy.

We either played like we were a shoe in for the flag - or were a poorly disciplined, unskilled team with no game plan, a lack of depth and slow. Now that is not the case, we have skill, we have discipline, a plan, depth and speed - so the only thing I can put it down to is our shoddy performance comes down to things going to our head - and that is no where more exemplified than flash footy boots and hair cuts. The losses from injuries do not account for all the other failures - this should have been reflected in fatigue, not poor attitude, effort, skills and endeavour.

So here we after all the shit we have been through, spoons, bottom of the ladder, almost folding through debt ridiculed by the whole league - and when we finally get a bit of praise in the paper we shut up shop straight away go out and buy new shoes get a hair cut and party like its 1995.

After what this club has been through that is simply unacceptable. Totally unacceptable.

Whats more - in todays environment the only games you can afford to lose are the cliff hangers which come down to the wire against the very top teams - not walk overs by mid tier teams.

If you are losing to teams like Essendon - you are not top four material - PERIOD, nothing more to be said.

What that game showed me was how weak we really were - how poor we can be.

You can walk away and take the best as your benchmark and feel that is appropriate - pies win - but for me, that now looks to have been an easy win over an injury riddled club who were down on their own mental state - Essendon was NOT an aberration, Essendon was a revelation as to where we truly are.

If we get beaten next week, and we more than likely will, then we are done and dusted.

If we win next week - I will not be able to shake this game off - I thought we had turned the corner from shit like this - I really did - I thought we had moved on from lying down - but no.


I do not want our coaches, staff or supporters to let this just slip by - the mental effort required to win a flag is huge - and having low self belief, low self esteem, lack of self belief is actually not as bad as thinking you are awesome. When you are down you have more to prove, more desire - when you are flying, and you KNOW IT, your guard comes down and you get smashed by the underdog. Go see the boot studder with some black boots, the barber, turn the telly, radio, internet off - read Fatal Shore and find out what seriously being tough is all about - really, really tough - not just running down the wing tough.