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Part I - The horror! The horror!
One evening coming in with a candle I was startled to hear him say a little tremulously, “I am lying here in the dark waiting for death.” The light was within a foot of his eyes. I forced myself to murmur, “Oh, nonsense!” and stood over him as if transfixed.
Anything approaching the change that came over his features I have never seen before, and hope never to see again. Oh, I wasn’t touched. I was fascinated. It was as though a veil had been rent. I saw on that ivory face the expression of sombre pride, of ruthless power, of craven terror—of an intense and hopeless despair. Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath:
“The horror! The horror!”
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Ok, first up - many thanks to xInfected_Virus for getting this preview thread going with a quality OP. Now, put the kettle on, get the tuna pancakes from the microwave and tell Anton_Chigurh to stock up on extra rolls in preparation for toilet breaks.
What a time to be alive. As the world wearily tries to emerge from the fires of a global pandemic, it sleepwalks into conflict that could reduce it to ashes.
Meanwhile, another season of AFL is dawning upon us.
For Eagles’ fans, this is perhaps the strangest of times. Like a descent into madness in the heart of the colonialist Belgian Congo, the trauma of the past year has left a cognitive gap – 2021 is a blank space, a wound without a memory; however it still casts a heavy shadow of doubt into the year ahead.
The question marks become louder and more numerous. Is the gameplan recoverable? Is the squad too old? Is the depth too thin? Is the commitment still there? Is there disharmony at the club? Has the coach lost the players? Is it time for a rebuild?
All of these remain unanswered and shall continue to be so until proven by performance in 2022.
More than perhaps any other club in the competition, West Coast have the potential to surprise or disappoint this season.
Which leaves supporters like us in the interesting predicament of having low expectations alongside high hopes.
Life as an Eagles supporter in 2021.
From a West Coast perspective, 2021 was nothing less than a disaster and embarrassment.
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North Melbourne spent every single round of 2021 in bottom place - the Eagles lost to them.
With one of the strongest squads on paper (a league-high 10 All-Australians), the club was gifted with its easiest fixture since 2015 and escaped the interference of Covid hubs. The injury crisis from 2020 came to an end and there was a full squad to select from for the second half of the season.
The stars had seemingly aligned – even the Grand Final was going to be hosted in WA…
Then the club failed to even qualify for finals.
It wasn’t how things were meant to have played out.
This outcome didn’t happen overnight, it has been three years in the making. Much like how a dam is breached; at first the problems are small and seemingly manageable – but they continue to eat away and reduce integrity, leading to an eventual failure that appears both sudden and catastrophic.
Increasingly at odds with the competition trend towards more direct ball movement, the reckoning for West Coast came in 2021. Rather than charging towards September with a strong squad and a soft draw, it imploded – posting the worst record in the competition after the bye.
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Defensively broken, lacking in attacking transition, and no longer feared by opponents, the Eagles limped to an underwhelming exit contrary to all expectations. The picture was of a club painted in disarray and crisis.
How did it come to this?
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