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LIVE: St Kilda v Western Bulldogs - 7:30PM Thu
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It did, but we weren't expecting it to!The footy just didn't bounce our way.
We've got some things we need to work on, got some things we need to fix. We set the game up pretty well and weren't able to follow through, so we'll go through that in fine detail and work it out - there's no point getting all upset and angry about it now. Adelaide outworked us in the second half - the reasons for that, well, we'll have a look at that, but the reality was that they outworked us in the second half. I think we were +80 or something enormous in the uncontested possession, but we were down I think a fair bit in the second half - well up in contested possession in the first half and then down 13, so we just couldn't get across to the contest and we couldn't win it when we did get there.
We went away from doing what we did in the first half that was so successful. That's the question we've got to ask ourselves. We left the door ajar for Adelaide and they ran through it. They really lifted in the second half and we couldn't match their intensity; we let the game slip away. It's not as if we're coming up here playing a side that are sitting on the bottom of the ladder and we expected to just walk over them. We had the game in our control at half time, and we couldn't finish the job. But if we won the game by 20 points, we'd be talking about a lot of the positives that came out of today.
We played some really good footy early, and we weren't able to sustain it long enough. We were against a really good side with just some genuine top-line players who got on top of us in the second half. I thought in the first half, we were just all over them; in the end, our defence held up really well, but the dam well broke a bit there at the end. They converted a few crucial contested marks and crucial shots at goal, and that's the ball game. They responded as we expected them to in terms of how we were playing. We were on top around the contest, but then they slowly got ascendancy back around the contest: that was a really good part of the game for us early, but then we got beaten in that area, and more importantly they put it on the scoreboard. We were right on top early, and then Adelaide responded really well, but they were able to convert a bit better. We just need to put it all together. It's frustrating, because I can see the signs, and the signs are good, but they're not consistent enough and we're not doing it for long enough at the moment.
They made some changes which were good tactical changes in the game, we responded to that, but they lifted their intensity in and around the contest. Sloane, Crouch, etc. - the list is long and distinguished, it's difficult to keep them down all game, and they really turned around the clearance and contested ball area in the second half. Yeah, it's frustrating, it's frustrating for everyone - probably not the least our supporters, but our players are hurting more than anyone, because they're not getting the reward for their effort across most of the game. A couple of games this year, the opposition's really good players have really got going in the last quarter when it really matters. It's a tight competition, and 0-4 means it's a long way back, but it's not insurmountable.
Figured I may as well just copy and paste quotes from previous press conferences, with some "minor tweaks", as it's not like the excuses ever change... here's to hoping we can actually come away with a win this week and don't have to hear them yet again.
Sources are:
- Round 16, 2013 v Brisbane
- Round 9, 2015 v Collingwood
- Round 9, 2011 v Brisbane
- Round 2, 2019 v Brisbane
- Round 15, 2012 v West Coast
- Round 3, 2019 v Hawthorn
- Round 5, 2017 v Fremantle
Love it!Reporter: Can you put your finger on why the players seemed sluggish in the first quarter?
Brad: I don't want use this as an excuse but there was an issue in the rooms just before the game. Little Farouk, a kid who came on a boat 4 years ago and is part of our Huddle program had lost his photo of his dog that he was forced to leave behind in Djibouti so the club rallied to find it. As part of the club's charter it's also incumbent on the players to rally as well.
We eventually found it in LMac"s locker who took it as a prank. The fact he helped look for it really threw us but eventually he fessed up when JMac pointed to his locker. That's the type of leadership you can't teach, Its innate.
Time just got away from us and when the officials eventually broke down the door, it hit us that the banging wasn't in the plumbing. But once we found out we were late I thought the boys really responded and we were all ready within 5 minutes. We had blokes running out still putting gear on so don't tell me they're not committed.
So to answer your question, we found the photo.
"Farouk from Djibouti" is going to be my next Bigfooty username.