Patton had 4 goals by 3 quarter time he was a problem before the rush. So was Lobb. Cameron did his best work on the wing in the first half. We knew we had no Ryder. We knew we had no Hombsch. We knew we were playing guys that weren't fit enough yet we still picked them. But what the hell we will play them anyway. We were always going to struggle to keep up given no Ryder. White contributed to us being so stuffed at 3/4 time because blokes had to cover him because he did bugger all in the first half and couldnt run out a whole game.
Yeah, one of those goals was that bullshit free wasn't it? And the other three were just because he was tall AND good.
White had 63% TOG. If he did bugger all, why did he have the third highest amount of tackles with 5? Yeah, he couldn't run it out, but I'd rather he get time in a game like that which is tough than against a Carlton or a Brisbane where we really should be putting them to the sword. Eddy would NOT have helped in the last - it's the one spot in the side where White and Monfries being injured actually means we are thin on numbers because they both play that high half forward role.
Powell-Pepper had similar stats to White from 66% TOG and no one is saying he was the reason we lost.
I'm glad we played the way we wanted to play rather than the way that would have 'limited the damage' - because for three quarters, we were right in it and should have been in front if we had finished off our good work. But when you keep ******* up kicks for goal, it means you have to work harder than you would have normally had to in the forward line to defend kick-ins instead of getting a rest when the ball resets back in the centre.
Once GWS piled on a couple of quick goals, our forwards checked out of the game, and it all went to shit.
We've played probably the best and second best sides in the comp (you can decide which is which) in the past two weeks. No other side has to do this. Now, at 2-2, we've got the opportunity to gather some momentum.