Toast Congratulations for this years effort

[Paul.]

I say this because the club had a funeral on Thursday.

This year was up and down. Average start, injuries, J-Mac, Travis Cloke Saga, it's been a full on year.

I reckon Nathan Buckley will learn from this, and look at preventing this crap next year. They looked down and out in the third quarter and perked up and dug in. I reckon next year will be a better one.

All things considered, I think we got to where we were meant to. So before you go ape poo at the loss, think of how hard it was to get there.

 

[policegetthatman]

unlucky

 

[scruffydog]

Well, the 2012 season is now officially over for us, and it seems like anything less than a Grand Final is underachieving for us if you listen to the opposition supporters. We played a pretty terrible game across the ground against the Swans, and were outclassed in just about every way. It's a terrible way to end the year, and will leave most of us supporters feeling fairly flat, and possibly shattered.

But you know what? I'm proud of our boys.

Less than two weeks ago a former player and good friend of many of the boys died. Due to this, I expected them to fall away in the West Coast game and not make the prelim. And if that happened, I couldn't have blamed them. Instead, they came out and played perhaps the best game I've seen them play since 2010 (as far as pressure goes, anyway). They wore themselves to the bone, clearly, and then had to go through J-Mac's funeral yesterday before heading to Sydney to take on a very talented Sydney team. A team that, if we were at our best, we would have beaten... but we weren't at our best. And realistically, how could we possibly expect us to be?

This is a hiccup. It is not the end. Our time at the top is far from over. We have a strong list, we have an abundance of youthful, very talented and passionate players.

We will be back next year. And we will be back with a vengeance.

Enjoy the extra week off boys - you've earned it. I'll be waiting with a smile on my face for next season.

 

[Chief Ten Beers]

Can start by telling the AFL to **** off when it comes to agreeing with the H&A blockbusters for a start too.

Anzac Day, Queen's Birthday etc...

 

[Pie 4 Life]

Lets fire up for next year, get Bally and Keefe back and gear up for a real premiership shake!

 

[Asgardian]

Well said. ...

 

[jaxter600]

Well said. ...

Totally agree. Bring on 2013!

 

[scruffydog]

Lets fire up for next year, get Bally and Keefe back and gear up for a real premiership shake!

Exactly! Keeffe! We unearthed one of the greatest defenders I've ever seen this year - who could have picked that? Bring on next year when we can witness his greatness again!

 

[MegaBob]

Oh Christ, Keefe! I forgot about him! Looking forward to his return.

 

[scruffydog]

Haha, I think just about everyone forgot about Keeffe. Hopefully the opposition clubs have too, to their peril!

Seriously, I wrote him off at the start of the year. Seemed kinda dopey, seemed uninterested... and then near the start of the year we had pretty much our entire backline suspended and/or injured, and it was Keeffe Vs The World... and Keeffe won!

 

[Heritier 09]

So proud. We were smashed from beginning to end in 2012. Bucks couldn't have asked for a more pure baptism of fire, and yet we were prelim finalists again.
We will be back all guns blazing.

 

[rhys_22]

Imagine keefey and reidy in the backline,Bally,beams,swanny and pendles in the midfield,wittsy as our next ruckman and Darcy Moore in the next 5 years,Travis up forward with dawesy.bucks with the cup in his hands by the next 3 years.watch.im excited.hopefully the swannys beat the dawks next Saturday.

 

[ColinWood]

Good thread. Yes, all in all a good result for 2012.Well done boys and farewell Taz. I'm disappointed but not gutted. Will be barracking for swans in granny.

 

[MegaBob]

I'll tell what I love about right now. We just got knocked out a prelim, and instead of imploding and going nuts at each other we're steeling ourselves towards the future and looking at it with an optimistic view. Too bad for the trolls coming here.

Side by side indeed.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

I thought they were fantastic tonight. Never gave up and kept fighting all the way.

Hope the Swans win the flag. If we couldnt give one to Taz, the next best option is to give one to Rhyce.

 

[rhys_22]

I think it helps me to think if we hadve made next week we wouldn't have very much chance.and I was very hurt last year after the gf,it hurts more to lose the big one.and there are a lot of positives.we aren't just saying that ,there genuinely are.looking forward to 2013.

 

[Buena]

It's been an exhausting year. Everything that could have gone wrong, did.
But I have been amazed at the way we dragged ourself off the canvas time, and time again. Even tonight you could see we were exhausted, with nothing left in the tank, yet we kept fighting. I am Immensely proud of the lads. Plenty of upside, we aren't done yet.

Well done lads, you have definitely earned your holiday. Enjoy.

(Please no fighting, molesting, o.d's, or embarrassing drunken mishaps in the off season)

 

[PieNSauce]

Major kudos to the club for making a prelim final in a season that most clubs would have written off by the third round. Credit where it's due, the all new coaching panel and the players left standing after our injury toll have done a massive job to be competitive in the face of all the odds.

I know plenty of us are hurting after tonight's loss but the reality is that 2012 needs to be forgotten and we need to look to the future which you could only see as pretty bright if we can field a full side in 2013.

Awesome effort! Floreat Pica!

 

[ColinWood]

Hear, hear! Floreat Pica

 

[Paul.]

The exact point of this thread was the remind everyone that there is a fair bit of upside.

You don't get to a Prelim just whistling dixy. Side by bloody side!!

 

[unplugged]

Oh god, Keefe has become our new Rusling.

 

[Quicky]

Oh god, Keefe has become our new Rusling.

In what way? Great white hope? Or injuries? Because prior to the knee Keeffe was very durable. He has also strung more games, form, consistency and ability together in the first half of the year than Rusling ever managed.

 

[unplugged]

In what way? Great white hope? Or injuries? Because prior to the knee Keeffe was very durable. He has also strung more games, form, consistency and ability together in the first half of the year than Rusling ever managed.

Just the fact that he's currently out with injury, has hardly played half a season and people are talking about his return as if he's going to change the world forever. Hopefully once he's back he stays back though, I agree.

 

[Baltimore Jack]

KEEFFE

 

[Temploar]

Our backline looked really slow with Keeffe playing, but meh i'll look forward to his return.