Man, **** this.

[Juddyzthebest]

kids settle down. its round one. These games mean **** all. Its the ones in September that count.
Its only one game... just outplayed by a team that wanted it more on the day.

 

[ImperialPurple]

I actually feel sad. Like someone you were relying on to do the right thing by you has betrayed your trust. Which is pretty stupid considering the players / coaches don't know me from Adam... rolleyes: at self... ) But nonetheless that's a little how I am feeling today.

But this was a game that IMO, was a "must win". For a lot of reasons. Not in terms of the "4 points" - yes it would have been good to get them, but losing round 1 is not the end of the world in terms of where you end up at the end of round 22. Every club loses a game or two during the year it was expected to win, and round 1 is often a round for upsets. Although if we miss top 4 by one game (or even top 2), this could well the the one we rue as the "missed chance". However, for these reasons, IMO it was a "must win" game.

(i) To put a stamp on and say "we're the real deal".

(ii) To make Subi the fortress that it was in 2003, and was beginning to be again last year. Now every second rate team (and yes I rate Port as second rate for a while yet) will come over thinking they have a chance and that Freo are vulnerable at Subi. Instead of the pressure being on them to beat us, the pressure will be on us to beat them.

(iii) The next "home" game is a derby. We might win it, we might not. Despite winning the last 5, the reality is ony 2 of them were H&A, and only one was a convincing victory. It's 50/50 max. Less than 50/50 if we get rolled by Essendon and are 0/2 (and why wouldn't they be extremely confident of the win), while the Slime beat Collingwood and are 2/0. If we lose, then we've dropped the first two home games on the season, and are 0/3. The pressure at home builds. Not good.

(iv) To show that we can "put teams away". Any team, anywhere will be confident that they are always "a chance" when playing Freo, no matter how far behind they may get. There should be no taking the foot off, allowing the opposition to get such a run on that it's impossible to wrest the momentum back. And they did try in the 4th quarter to get it back, it's just that Port were so "on" by then, that they just weren't able to do it. They should have never allowed themselves to get into that position. Coughing up a 34 point lead, at home, against 2nd raters is completely unacceptable. Completely and totally unacceptable. That's a 50 point turnaround in less than a half of footy. Which leads me to point (v).

(v) Coughing up an almost 6 goal lead, at home, against 2nd raters is completely unacceptable. Completely and totally unacceptable.

(vi) To show that they are desperate to win every game. I never want to see "they were beaten by team that wanted it more". Outplayed on the day by a fellow potential Top 4 finalist, maybe, but not by a lesser team who "wanted it more". We have to show that we want every single game we play, and we want it badly.

(vii) The members. Both old and new. We didn't deserve that, and if they want to keep 42,000 members (yes bandwagonners are members too), then they have to do better than that.

(viii) For Pav. The captain did everything he could out there and for them to crumble in his first "official" game as club captain would have to hurt I reckon.


Anyway, that's my take. I never like losing, the feeling you get when your teams wins is one I enjoy immensely... hopefully this was "the loss we had to have" and it gives them a real hard kick up their collective arses, and they get back on the path they were starting to forge last year.

 

[dockers_bengals]

Our 22 was still vastly superior to ports in ability. It was at our home ground, where we need to win atleast 9, probably 10 games to make the top four. Port were missing Treadrea and Burgoyne, 2 of their top 5 players so we weren't the only side missing quality players.

If we can't win when senior players are out should we forfeit if Pav gets suspended?

I don't mind our players being beaten by superior footballers, I have a problem when we are beaten by a team that is more desperate.

Surely when a team concedes 10 goals in a quarter and loses after leading by 6 goals in the 3rd quarter the coach has been beaten?

Our backline was murdered by a bunch of nobodies in the third quarter.

If you're not angry about yesterdays performance you should head up the road, there are plenty of part time supporters there. Or head to dockerland, I'm sure everything looks rosie over there.

It's certainly not season over, but our next 5 games (eagles and crows at home, bombers, brisbane and melbourne away) will all be tougher than port at subi. Hopefully it will be a wake up call, but if our players aren't chomping at the bit for round one then the inconsistency of the last 3 seasons is bound to continue.

That was uncalled for
Yes I was disapointed.So browne,duffield both first game in the midfield with black,mj and carr out equals burgoyne.I didnt say the coaches weren't beaten but I don't know what else they could of done that they didn't do so why trash them?Did you want them to do what the weagles did and have 16 defenders.Yep we do need to win when players are out but there is a limit to what you can cover.Now I'm only saying possible reasons but I don't think its bad enough to fly off the handle.

 

[Lion]

Yeah true, but at quarter time I was calling for a 200 point game. lol, i need to change brands of crystal balls.

Well i was thinking the samething at half time (maybe not 200 though), but should have been a convincing win none the less.

I think the dockers were so concerned about how they wanted to play they forgot they had an opposition to contend with and when Port cranked things up the dockers were a bit stunned.

 

[hoogs]

That was uncalled for
Yes I was disapointed.So browne,duffield both first game in the midfield with black,mj and carr out equals burgoyne.I didnt say the coaches weren't beaten but I don't know what else they could of done that they didn't do so why trash them?Did you want them to do what the weagles did and have 16 defenders.Yep we do need to win when players are out but there is a limit to what you can cover.Now I'm only saying possible reasons but I don't think its bad enough to fly off the handle.

What do you mean 'that was uncalled for' ??

Dockerland is a joke. Shane is a joke. Should revert to the old name of Shane's Dockerland, because that's exactly what it is. It's a disgrace and as a Dockers supporter I'm ashamed of its existence.

 

[ImperialPurple]

I think he meant the suggestion to go there was uncalled for...

 

[hoogs]

I think he meant the suggestion to go there was uncalled for...

Oh, lol, true that. My point still stands though

 

[dominguez]

I actually feel sad. Like someone you were relying on to do the right thing by you has betrayed your trust. Which is pretty stupid considering the players / coaches don't know me from Adam... rolleyes: at self... ) But nonetheless that's a little how I am feeling today.

But this was a game that IMO, was a "must win". For a lot of reasons. Not in terms of the "4 points" - yes it would have been good to get them, but losing round 1 is not the end of the world in terms of where you end up at the end of round 22. Every club loses a game or two during the year it was expected to win, and round 1 is often a round for upsets. Although if we miss top 4 by one game (or even top 2), this could well the the one we rue as the "missed chance". However, for these reasons, IMO it was a "must win" game.

(i) To put a stamp on and say "we're the real deal".

(ii) To make Subi the fortress that it was in 2003, and was beginning to be again last year. Now every second rate team (and yes I rate Port as second rate for a while yet) will come over thinking they have a chance and that Freo are vulnerable at Subi. Instead of the pressure being on them to beat us, the pressure will be on us to beat them.

(iii) The next "home" game is a derby. We might win it, we might not. Despite winning the last 5, the reality is ony 2 of them were H&A, and only one was a convincing victory. It's 50/50 max. Less than 50/50 if we get rolled by Essendon and are 0/2 (and why wouldn't they be extremely confident of the win), while the Slime beat Collingwood and are 2/0. If we lose, then we've dropped the first two home games on the season, and are 0/3. The pressure at home builds. Not good.

(iv) To show that we can "put teams away". Any team, anywhere will be confident that they are always "a chance" when playing Freo, no matter how far behind they may get. There should be no taking the foot off, allowing the opposition to get such a run on that it's impossible to wrest the momentum back. And they did try in the 4th quarter to get it back, it's just that Port were so "on" by then, that they just weren't able to do it. They should have never allowed themselves to get into that position. Coughing up a 34 point lead, at home, against 2nd raters is completely unacceptable. Completely and totally unacceptable. That's a 50 point turnaround in less than a half of footy. Which leads me to point (v).

(v) Coughing up an almost 6 goal lead, at home, against 2nd raters is completely unacceptable. Completely and totally unacceptable.

(vi) To show that they are desperate to win every game. I never want to see "they were beaten by team that wanted it more". Outplayed on the day by a fellow potential Top 4 finalist, maybe, but not by a lesser team who "wanted it more". We have to show that we want every single game we play, and we want it badly.

(vii) The members. Both old and new. We didn't deserve that, and if they want to keep 42,000 members (yes bandwagonners are members too), then they have to do better than that.

(viii) For Pav. The captain did everything he could out there and for them to crumble in his first "official" game as club captain would have to hurt I reckon.


Anyway, that's my take. I never like losing, the feeling you get when your teams wins is one I enjoy immensely... hopefully this was "the loss we had to have" and it gives them a real hard kick up their collective arses, and they get back on the path they were starting to forge last year.

Great post IP.

I too get the feeling that at the end of August we'll be looking back and saying "if we had only put in a 4 quarter performance against port we'd be top 2/top 4".

 

[dockers_bengals]

I think he meant the suggestion to go there was uncalled for...

As usual spot on I.P. and excellent post on the game

 

[pinkus maximus]

agree with point 5 IP. it was the way we gave away a 6 goal lead so easily which is the most concerning part

 

[estibador]

(v) Coughing up an almost 6 goal lead, at home, against 2nd raters is completely unacceptable. Completely and totally unacceptable.

Beautifully summed up IP. Completely and totally unacceptable.

This should be written on every wall, pinned to every exercise bike and stamped across every players forehead at training this week. Completely and totally unacceptable.

I hope it's burning our boys on the inside and we take it out on the Bombers this week.

 

[Purple Passion]

I hope the boys learn some real grit and go harder at the ball than they do the man,

its ridiculous i mean they have the nerve to allow players to be suspended and are too leniant on them for being suspended i won't go into that but really its jus stupid to have players reported and not win the game

uhhhhh this is really frustrating, I really didn't expect that at Subi i hope they make up for that error ridden match and give us a home derby win coz losing 2 home games in a row is not characteristic of a "premier" outfit

How did the boys in the WAFL go?

 

[Polly]

Teach Sandilands how to kick and ruck for FOUR QUARTERS

Brogan >> Sandilands

Funny, didn't actually see Brogan in the first half, maybe you should give him the same advice next time hes on day release.

 

[Slacker]

Have you ever run down a steep hill so fast that you couldn't keep up with yourself. Well that's the way i saw the dockers performance yesterday. Obviously they had been told to move the ball quickly but after half time they lost the groove and were all over the shop.

They should have slowed things down again and found there rhythm and built from there in the second half, but they just kept going full pace like headless chickens until the end of the game.

IMO they set out to play a certain way (move the ball quickly) and it was more important for them to win the game in that fashion/style of play than to just win the game. They wanted a stylish 4 points rather than just a plain old 4 points. Not sure they would have set out to do this against a better team.

Well said, this was my perception of the game too.

Unfortunately, I saw things on Saturday that were as problematic in 2006 as they may be this year. One of these things was the lack of pace in the middle (and associated centre clearances), the other being the lack of changes to halt ports 2nd half run on the paint (as mentioned by lion in his/her 2nd paragraph).

Can't be too disappointed though, after 10 years I'm starting to accept this as all too normal We'll turn it around as per normal too.

 

[Lion]

Well said, this was my perception of the game too.

Unfortunately, I saw things on Saturday that were as problematic in 2006 as they may be this year. One of these things was the lack of pace in the middle (and associated centre clearances), the other being the lack of changes to halt ports 2nd half run on the paint (as mentioned by lion in his/her 2nd paragraph).

Can't be too disappointed though, after 10 years I'm starting to accept this as all too normal We'll turn it around as per normal too.

I was watching them go down with a little smile on my face (good old dockers), wasn't really that surprised in the end,a bit annoyed but it felt pretty normal.

In form Essendon next week at the dome, not liking our chances which means we might win.

 

[Exeter]

Preaching to the choir. I do believe a little part of me died today. My belief in the game with the rules being so soft physicality is almost completely banned and my belief that Freo can win the flag, that Freo are contenders and that we won't just be dished up the same old crap, that there is justice and a time for all and that this was our time to do well. That for all the crap we cop from mindless bogan twats from West Coast and Port we would have a time to shine and that there is some form of positive left and that Freo will step-up and dispell the disrespect. That part died today, and once again I'm left wondering why do I bother being hopeful?

If somebody can answer me that I will be forever greatful. For the meantime Go the Cowboys and hopefully Freo can lift next week and create a run that will make up for one absolutely below woeful performance.

A post worthy of a Richmond supporter.

 

[Cameron_K]

I was watching them go down with a little smile on my face (good old dockers), wasn't really that surprised in the end,a bit annoyed but it felt pretty normal.

In form Essendon next week at the dome, not liking our chances which means we might win.

Your not the new "member" that sits behind me are you.