Yes agree mate. But one thing i hate more is every week a player comes out and starts talking, either sick of losing, we need to earn back respect or whatever and no one stands by this talk, its all lip service.
Of course it is. What is the club meant to do though. Just do no media, avoid the topic all together? What else are they meant to say if they say nothing? Doesn't matter what the club does, people are going to take it negatively. Either for making excuses or for not explaining themselves.
Players are going through a difficult period. Confidence is way down, and they are both personally, and as a team, in poor form. Working your way out of this situation is something that younger teams struggle with. AFL has never been so reliant on a 22 personal performance as it is now with how the modern day game is played with zones and transition between offense and defense.
End of the day, we have still put in some good performances this year, against good opposition. It isn't like we have been poor all year. What has caught everyone off guard was just how far back we fell, and our inability to pull ourselves back up. From what i've seen the last few weeks the effort has been there, but we are still just not in great form. It is more than likely we will come from nowhere and beat someone we really shouldn't, such is the way we ebb and flow with our form lately. I do think not having our captain out there is hurting us. Players like Zorko, Hanley and Rich have some leadership, but i feel they are more likely to try help with their own form, and don't have that leadership to drag the rest of the team along with them.