- Joined
- Dec 14, 2002
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- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
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- Sturt, Liverpool
Nah, Arjen, you missed the bit where I said I'm happy for us to fly under the radar. It truly doesn't it upset me that they don't talk us up at every opportunity. I don't rate footy journalists at all, so their inability to perform true football analysis is a given in my book.
From the perspective of 'drinking own bathwater', of course, I'm happy we're going under the radar although I think the team is mature enough now not to be bothered either way.
IMO, we keep beating Richmond because they are our bitches and we are deep inside their heads. Also because they have a small handful of top class players and their bottom 5 or 6 have been putrid for years (different players, same lack of talent). We put time into limiting the effect of the top few (Cotch, Dusty, Deledio, Jack) and the job is done. It's not as if we are the only ones to do it, of course.
To link both posts and my comments, I also think one reason we do go under the radar is the media predisposition to looking at numbers and individuals. Star players, if you will, by dint of possession numbers etc. Notice how quick they are to pick up on good games from Wellsy and Goldy to highlight the impact of an individual on a team.
Being a more even team, I think they struggle to know how to talk us up. System, game plan and even culture is more challenging for them to report on unless you can give it a cute nickname (Clarko's Cluster, Weagles Web etc.) Given the collective noun for kangaroos is 'mob', and we're unbeatable when we're all switched on, I'll put 'mob mentality' out there.

