Extremely disappointing performance, and a lot of us could see it coming. There was not one point in the game where I thought we'd win it. Most of the moments were hoping Collingwood could keep missing so we might stumble over the line in the end, total loser mentality as a fan really.
Big stage, top of the ladder team, spotlight on us, Big Freeze but no we didn't come to play did we? The season has seen us play some games completely out of our skin and maybe slightly above what our talent suggests but today as much as it hurts this is a great leveller and remainder that we are not a premiership contender yet.
I can't wait for the freedom fighters to come in and tell us off for being negative and that "We're 11 and 2 you're acting like someone died". Yes we are 11-2 and it's a great achievement, but there's no rule against discussing negatives.
Beaten at our own game today. Blocked off the defensive exits, ran bloody hard for 110 uncontested marks. +30 odd differential in the uncontested possessions. The stats get worse the more you look at them. 18 marks inside 50 for the Pies? Seriously when has that happened against us this year? And where is our 'no fly zone' backline? Petty was not on, meant that we had to have Lever play man on man which he stinks at quite frankly. We could never move the ball beyond half back either.
Time in forward half 82% for the Pies. Game over. You literally couldn't have better stats if you wanted to beat us right now.
So where to from here? Yes 11-2 is a bloody good launching pad for the second half and no-one is saying the sky is falling in but have we peaked early? As cruel as it sounds the first half of the season doesn't count for much come the end and there's been a ton of teams fall away. Be the front runner then keep fronting up. There comes a time where this isn't just about some nice wins to start the year and whatever happens happens. No, we have to treat every game now like a danger game. As far as losses that need to be had, save that bs for later in the season.
I'm trying my best to mellow out, I know nothing is as bad or good as it seems. So I'm sorry if this is a bit much.
Honestly I was going to go through the players but Individualising stuff isn't going to help. It took a team effort of sub par performances today. Salem, Jordan, Trac and maybe Gawn can hold their heads up. Other than that we looked drunk. The number of times there were 50-50 balls there to be won and I thought we'd easily get it but some poor skill error sent it back the other way....
It might have been in Sydney but Clayton Oliver really brought the Hollywood touch with two moments deciding to hang onto the ball and kill any momentum were were getting. Trent Rivers normally such a reliable kick had those 2 doozeys early. Weideman man seriously this guy could not catch a cold right now. I'd like to know how many holding the balls we were pinged for today, the classic case of a team playing flat is the lack of awareness and urgency. And the icing on the cake was when a goal would have brought us back in touch and Kozzie gets it about to show some of that magic and runs too far. That was the moment.
A very happy birthday, really just needed to get the W over the filth in what had otherwise been a good weekend. I know we're gonna drop games but I would have done anything to avoid it being this one. Instead I gotta go into the office and become the spokesperson for what went wrong, which isnt terrible if youve only done it twice this year but I dont want to. Gotta wear it.