Now I realise I've posted this over on Roar Power too, but when you write a post as long as this sucker, you want to get as much mileage out of it as you can ....
We've had some terrible losses this year ... Is there really any such thing as a good loss?
And taking into consideration the old saying that those who fail to acknowledge their history our destined to repeat it, I thought I'd go through our thirteen losses in 2002, and rank them in order of importance and significance in contributing to our disappointing season.
Obviously the list is purely subjective - not always the biggest losing margin is more significant, nor how low on the ladder the team that beat us was. It's a gut feeling thing at the time ... and a little hindsight, just for good measure.
So here goes, in descending order from our worst loss to best loss ....
1. St. Kilda (Rd 9)
- This was the loss which told us all that we were simply not a genuine Top 4 contender. At the time, the Saints were depleted, and we should really have won, even though we were playing terribly on the night. In fact, all through the game I felt as if we would get over the line, and would then be able to put it down as "winning ugly". Instead it was a case of "losing ugly ... very very ugly".
2. Essendon (Rd 2)
- If the Saints loss told us we were not Top 4 material, this loss in only the second round informed us, in no uncertain terms, that we were not really Premiership material. The ghosts of seasons past came back to destroy our optimism from our performances in the Wizard Cup and big first up win against Collingwood. A major reality check.
3. Kangaroos (Rd 11)
- Another we should have won. Kicked ourselves out of it with inaccuracy. Tivvers, Bowdo, Rogers, Sziller all missed sitter after sitter. And what really hurt about this loss was that it was just before the half-season bye. We would have gone in at 5-6 with a weeks break to get over the niggles. But instead we went in at a disappointing 4-7 win-loss. We were always going to be stretched to make the Eight after this loss, particularly, as it would turn out, as the Roos were one of the teams we would be competing with for a spot in September.
4. Carlton (Rd 14)
- The Richo dummy spit game. Need I say more. Well ... alright then, I will. Thankfully our season was already shot by this stage, but losing to the hapless no-hoper Blues was unforgiveable. We even made McKernan look half-decent that night.
5. Adelaide (Rd 6)
- If we were ever really going to be fair dinkum this year, we had to beat the interstate teams in Melbourne. Maybe not Brisbane, but at least the Crows. this game also reminded us just how ordinary our midfield - or lack thereof - really was/is.
6. Bulldogs (Rd 10)
- At 4-5, we had the opportunity to get back to even-stevens against the 3-6 Bulldogs, whose three wins had come against nobody of significance. Again we kicked ourself out of the game with terrible inaccuracy from easy shots at goal. It also gave the gloating Bulldogs ferals justification to boo Knighter and Campbo ... and that really hurt.
7. Hawthorn (Rd 5)
- Hindsight has shown us how ordinary the Hawks really are/were. They belted us early and we never gave a yelp after that. It put us in the red at 2-3 after a good chance on our home ground (no Hawks - OUR home ground!!) to bounce back after the Freo loss. And once we got in the red, we never made it back into the black for the remainder of the season.
8. Port Power (Rd 12)
- No disgrace to lose to Port at Port, but 84 points ... For god's sake. They belted us up in every facet of the game, and it took us nearly a month to get another kick. If previous games told us that we had some serious thinking to do, Port instilled feelings of insecurity and self-doubt about all aspects of our presence in the competition. And it was at about this time that diggler et al really got some anti-Richmond momentum on the board. A dark period in our history as a footy club.
9. Collingwood (Rd 16)
- Our season was a long way over by Rd 16, but anytime Collingwood beats us is a disaster. Especially when they only turn up for about fifteen minutes of the match, and STILL beat us. I'll go to my death blaming the Tivendale turnover, when he refused to go onto his right foot at centre half forward when we were sailing along about 20 points up, for this loss. This particular win also sealed Collingwood into the finals with their 11th bunch of points ... and that hurts all of us.
10. Fremantle (Rd 4)
- As it turned out, Freo beat just about everyone over there. But at the time, this was a shattering loss. When you go through the draw in February, there's some games you pencil in as near-certainties in your inevitable glory run to premiership success, and Freo - wherever it's played - is one of them. The unforgivably huge 66-point margin also showed up a few blokes like Houlihan, Sziller, etc.. early in the season as the dead wood that they've turned out to be.
11. Geelong (Rd 13)
- A nothing loss. I think I'd stopped caring by this stage. All we were was cannon fodder for Bomber Thompson's youth policy, and a good enough reason for all of those inbred Geelong supporters to gloat over how many pimply teenagers they had accumulated by trading off their best players of the last few years.
12. Brisbane (Rd 15)
- I watched in awe as Brisbane tore us apart from about the 5-minute mark of the first quarter (after that Pettifer goal) to about the 25-minute mark of the second quarter. Again we were reminded how much fresh air exists between our mob and a premiership. The loss was tempered by the fact that it was in the wash-up to the "Richo Dummy Spit" week, so he was off strutting his stuff for Coburg. This kind of gave us a "Well, at least we got Richo to come back" type feeling. This game was also a landmark for another reason - the emergence of a guy named Mark Coughlan as a player. So there was some silver lining in the belting.
13. Essendon (Rd 17)
- Losing to Essendon hurts anytime, but when you think we were contemplating priority draft choices at the time, a loss was almost a blessing in disguise. Granted, a very, very heavy disguise. Like, an entire sex-change type disguise! Speaking of sex-changes, at least we kept James Hird and Matthew Lloyd quiet. Only some Jason Johnson brilliance got them over the line by a measly point. Knighter's magnificent send-off tempered the loss somewhat, and I'm sure most of us left that game with at least a slightly pleasant feeling in our guts. There were many other good signs that came out of that game, and I also predicted that we'd win 4 of the last 5 games after seeing that loss. So far since then I have not been disappointed.
If we do happen to lose one or both of the last two matches, they would rank about 10th-12th, unless injuries or humungous margins intervene ....
We've had some terrible losses this year ... Is there really any such thing as a good loss?
And taking into consideration the old saying that those who fail to acknowledge their history our destined to repeat it, I thought I'd go through our thirteen losses in 2002, and rank them in order of importance and significance in contributing to our disappointing season.
Obviously the list is purely subjective - not always the biggest losing margin is more significant, nor how low on the ladder the team that beat us was. It's a gut feeling thing at the time ... and a little hindsight, just for good measure.
So here goes, in descending order from our worst loss to best loss ....
1. St. Kilda (Rd 9)
- This was the loss which told us all that we were simply not a genuine Top 4 contender. At the time, the Saints were depleted, and we should really have won, even though we were playing terribly on the night. In fact, all through the game I felt as if we would get over the line, and would then be able to put it down as "winning ugly". Instead it was a case of "losing ugly ... very very ugly".
2. Essendon (Rd 2)
- If the Saints loss told us we were not Top 4 material, this loss in only the second round informed us, in no uncertain terms, that we were not really Premiership material. The ghosts of seasons past came back to destroy our optimism from our performances in the Wizard Cup and big first up win against Collingwood. A major reality check.
3. Kangaroos (Rd 11)
- Another we should have won. Kicked ourselves out of it with inaccuracy. Tivvers, Bowdo, Rogers, Sziller all missed sitter after sitter. And what really hurt about this loss was that it was just before the half-season bye. We would have gone in at 5-6 with a weeks break to get over the niggles. But instead we went in at a disappointing 4-7 win-loss. We were always going to be stretched to make the Eight after this loss, particularly, as it would turn out, as the Roos were one of the teams we would be competing with for a spot in September.
4. Carlton (Rd 14)
- The Richo dummy spit game. Need I say more. Well ... alright then, I will. Thankfully our season was already shot by this stage, but losing to the hapless no-hoper Blues was unforgiveable. We even made McKernan look half-decent that night.
5. Adelaide (Rd 6)
- If we were ever really going to be fair dinkum this year, we had to beat the interstate teams in Melbourne. Maybe not Brisbane, but at least the Crows. this game also reminded us just how ordinary our midfield - or lack thereof - really was/is.
6. Bulldogs (Rd 10)
- At 4-5, we had the opportunity to get back to even-stevens against the 3-6 Bulldogs, whose three wins had come against nobody of significance. Again we kicked ourself out of the game with terrible inaccuracy from easy shots at goal. It also gave the gloating Bulldogs ferals justification to boo Knighter and Campbo ... and that really hurt.
7. Hawthorn (Rd 5)
- Hindsight has shown us how ordinary the Hawks really are/were. They belted us early and we never gave a yelp after that. It put us in the red at 2-3 after a good chance on our home ground (no Hawks - OUR home ground!!) to bounce back after the Freo loss. And once we got in the red, we never made it back into the black for the remainder of the season.
8. Port Power (Rd 12)
- No disgrace to lose to Port at Port, but 84 points ... For god's sake. They belted us up in every facet of the game, and it took us nearly a month to get another kick. If previous games told us that we had some serious thinking to do, Port instilled feelings of insecurity and self-doubt about all aspects of our presence in the competition. And it was at about this time that diggler et al really got some anti-Richmond momentum on the board. A dark period in our history as a footy club.
9. Collingwood (Rd 16)
- Our season was a long way over by Rd 16, but anytime Collingwood beats us is a disaster. Especially when they only turn up for about fifteen minutes of the match, and STILL beat us. I'll go to my death blaming the Tivendale turnover, when he refused to go onto his right foot at centre half forward when we were sailing along about 20 points up, for this loss. This particular win also sealed Collingwood into the finals with their 11th bunch of points ... and that hurts all of us.
10. Fremantle (Rd 4)
- As it turned out, Freo beat just about everyone over there. But at the time, this was a shattering loss. When you go through the draw in February, there's some games you pencil in as near-certainties in your inevitable glory run to premiership success, and Freo - wherever it's played - is one of them. The unforgivably huge 66-point margin also showed up a few blokes like Houlihan, Sziller, etc.. early in the season as the dead wood that they've turned out to be.
11. Geelong (Rd 13)
- A nothing loss. I think I'd stopped caring by this stage. All we were was cannon fodder for Bomber Thompson's youth policy, and a good enough reason for all of those inbred Geelong supporters to gloat over how many pimply teenagers they had accumulated by trading off their best players of the last few years.
12. Brisbane (Rd 15)
- I watched in awe as Brisbane tore us apart from about the 5-minute mark of the first quarter (after that Pettifer goal) to about the 25-minute mark of the second quarter. Again we were reminded how much fresh air exists between our mob and a premiership. The loss was tempered by the fact that it was in the wash-up to the "Richo Dummy Spit" week, so he was off strutting his stuff for Coburg. This kind of gave us a "Well, at least we got Richo to come back" type feeling. This game was also a landmark for another reason - the emergence of a guy named Mark Coughlan as a player. So there was some silver lining in the belting.
13. Essendon (Rd 17)
- Losing to Essendon hurts anytime, but when you think we were contemplating priority draft choices at the time, a loss was almost a blessing in disguise. Granted, a very, very heavy disguise. Like, an entire sex-change type disguise! Speaking of sex-changes, at least we kept James Hird and Matthew Lloyd quiet. Only some Jason Johnson brilliance got them over the line by a measly point. Knighter's magnificent send-off tempered the loss somewhat, and I'm sure most of us left that game with at least a slightly pleasant feeling in our guts. There were many other good signs that came out of that game, and I also predicted that we'd win 4 of the last 5 games after seeing that loss. So far since then I have not been disappointed.
If we do happen to lose one or both of the last two matches, they would rank about 10th-12th, unless injuries or humungous margins intervene ....
