What can you say?
Worst loss ever? Probably. Most embarrassing loss ever? Certainly. Season over? You betcha.
Because although the coach may be forced to live in a fantasy world where a flag is still achievable, I think we fans know this season is dead. We can still make the 8 (haha), but so what if we do? We've proved over the last 2 seasons that we're an okay team, not elite. We have a small margin of error against the best teams. They have more talent, so they prevail in the big games in Melbourne. We lift at home, so top 2 would give us some chance to win it all. Obviously top 2 died as we layed down and died in Adelaide.
But let's go back to the start shall we. The game began so promisingly. We were dominating all areas, our desire and work rate was there and Port were in disarray. As the behinds starting to pile up in the second quarter I started to develop a bad feeling. But hell, we were 6 goals up at half time and 41 points up halfway through the 3rd. Any team with any sort of fibre would win, despite blowing chance after chance after chance to seal the W.
They weren't difficult chances either. Not for players earning hundreds of thousands of dollars to play this game. JJK kicked 4 straight, but all in the first half. Gaff- 3 points, the shell of Lecras- 3 points (including the abysmal, pathetic attempt to level the scores with minutes left), Sinclair had a couple of horrific attempts and Hill missed a sitter in the 3rd. And those are just the ones I can remember. I don't care 'why' they're kicking so poorly, they're professional athletes and it's simply not good enough.
But that said, we STILL should have won from the position we were in during the 3rd quarter. So what happened? Port came back and we went to pieces. We had no legs at all during the last quarter, as the Power played as if Dr Dank had given them a special tonic during the major break. Again, there is no excuse for being smashed like that in the last quarter. Did anyone else notice how many times Port players skipped past soft attempts at tackles by our guys? We couldn't win a clearance, couldn't take a mark, couldn't show any toughness.
It was simply the worst fold (Wors(t)fold?) I've ever seen from the Eagles. In all honesty, and this is the greatest insult I can give, it was something you'd expect from the Dockers. A club with no history of success and little spirit.
Where to now? There's no premiership window for this club. I never was truly convinced there was. Our midfield of the future is mediocre. Masten played like Masten, Gaff is too slow, Shuey and Selwood are front-runners. Harsh but fair. I remember reading comments after Masten signed a new contract saying how great he was now. He's a complete nowhere man. A list player. Shuey and Selwood were being touted as elite last year. I'm not one who cares about stats. I know what I see and what I see is 2 guys who are game breakers against GWS, but wallflowers (without perks) when needed. Gaff has silky skills but moves like an iceberg and is easily quelled.
It's gets worse too. Glass, Cox and Kerr are probably our 3 best players and their end is nigh. Say what you want about Kerr being tagged out of games, but the midfield without him is completely useless. Naitanui is a spark plug, an X-Factor, a game-changer. But he's shown he's injury prone and flourishes as a tandem with Cox. Glass is the crux of the defence, a brave Captain who never quits. We've got talent down back, but none to his level.
Remember how happy the team looked after beating Melbourne? Makes sense now. Quite an achievement indeed for this team.
We play the Dogs next week at Subi. I'm going to that game. Who knows what will happen. The pressure is building on the players, club and ultimately on a coach in the last year of his contract.
-End Rant.
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