For a start, it's not just a problem for this one match. It is an ongoing problem.
Injuries have made a difference, but only slightly.
This is something we have been working to rectify for a few seasons and it may take a few more. Not many people recognize and fully appreciate the hole we were in, in terms of "list-composition".
It's not a case of our middle and senior players not being up to AFL standard.
It's a case of not having enough and in that group as a collective there is just not enough quality to carry a side full of kids.
Bruce is capable, but considering his standing in the team, for us to be successful he simply needs to be a better player.
And he isn't. Never will be.
Jones, Bate and Dunn are perfectly capable players if they have superstars around them. They don't. (Yet.)
Johnson, Newton, Bartram, Meesen, Bell are, in my opinion, not up to it.
With all the list cloggers we've unloaded over the last few years, we still have a fair few still.
It's going back to the notion I've seen raised on this board many times before, the one that we don't have enough "star power".
We have a team full of kids and role players and until we develop some Abletts and Judds and then some A-graders, we won't be able to compete with the top 8 teams.