Opinion If we lose the Prelim....

[Freo Hitman]

Don't know why people are getting fired up. We will win our prelim and we will win the flag.
I feel the love & by that reckoning the season will be a complete success.

As for the the original question , weve moved forward as a club this season but if your not collecting the silverware , the season is a failure

 

[pokerspiv]

It will be a good effort regardless, but not a success.

Success means you brought home the cup.

 

[FreoGirl]

We've gone from 8th to 3rd, and qualified for a prelim.

The season is a success regardless of what happens in the next few weeks.

I don't want to agree, but I do. I think we have a fantastic team at the moment, that's not too top heavy with old guys. I'm optimistic about the next couple of years.

We can't disregard last year's premiers - they will put up a huge fight

 

[Freofalcon]

Don't know why people are getting fired up. We will win our prelim and we will win the flag.
I feel the love & by that reckoning the season will be a complete success.

As for the the original question , weve moved forward as a club this season but if your not collecting the silverware , the season is a failure

It will be a good effort regardless, but not a success.

Success means you brought home the cup.

This and this

Who remembers who ran second in the Melbourne Cup? Winning is success.
It's what the team believes in now and we as fans need to do the same. To me, this thread sounds like pre RTB Freo. I want a cup God dammit.

 

[strobe00]

We've gone from 8th to 3rd, and qualified for a prelim.

The season is a success regardless of what happens in the next few weeks.

Wow. I'm agreeing with Muffin. Who'da thunk it? But spot on Muffin.

If we get knocked out in the prelim it'll be a waste of a golden opportunity. But the season will still be a success, especially when you consider the guys we've missed for fair chunks of the season.

 

[Outshined]

I am with Outshined.

If we lost after a weeks rest to opposition we should beat (Sydney because they are injury riddled and travel to Perth after a tough final against Carlton, Carlton because we are better than them) then it is a failure. That is because we have transformed into a team who wins the games they are expected to win, and can jag some that we probably shouldn't. Losing the Prelim would be a failure of that creed.

The success of the year should not be measured for the start of the season. The expectations change as the year progresses.

Precisely, especially the bolded. Surely we should be able to "shift the goalposts" of determining success when we are on the cusp of a grand final with a home PF at Paterson's.

Granted I doubt many of us would have predicted Freo to be in this position at the start of the year, but a successful year in my book now should definitely be contingent on booking a spot in the GF. The odds are in our favour, with full respect to the opposition, and this team has the right mix of talent, effort and determination to take us all the way. Winning a flag is another matter entirely, but we have to grasp this chance to at least make the GF.

 

[strobe00]

As for the the original question , weve moved forward as a club this season but if your not collecting the silverware , the season is a failure

Can't stand absolutism.

In our real working lives, if your company isn't the most profitable in your sector does that mean that yours and every other company that wasn't, are failures?

Improvement and progression from the year before is a success to me. Only one team gets to hold up the cup at the end of the year. Saying that the other 17 teams are all failures 'cause they didn't get to hold it this year is just silly as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Boppo]

GF appearance only. We're obviously a very good team.

 

[Paracleet]

Wow. I'm agreeing with Muffin. Who'da thunk it? But spot on Muffin.

If we get knocked out in the prelim it'll be a waste of a golden opportunity. But the season will still be a success, especially when you consider the guys we've missed for fair chunks of the season.

Of course he is right geez, what is it with people? Can they not hold two ideas in their head at one time? How would they like it if their work pay review for the year judged against what they had achieved 11 months in rather than what was agreed at the beginning of the year?

 

[caterina]

In relative terms this season already is a success, but if we don't win the prelim now I will be completely devastated. It is too bloody hard to get to these things for us to not win now.

 

[benfica]

why cant we keep these threads for AFTER the season has finished

 

[stanley]

Of course there has been some positives this year, however, if we were not to win a premiership this season it should be seen as a overall failure and it should hurt as one that got away.

I believe the club made a bold move nearly two years ago to change the culture that making a prelim/finals is a success. Remember our club was a laughing stock 10 years ago when we clapped off the team after a home final loss. It appears that Ross has instilled into the players (judging from the press conference after the Adelaide finals loss last year) that making finals is simply not good enough. Maybe it is time for us fans to get the same attitude and demand (expect) a higher level of success.

 

[clogged]

Sometimes you only get one chance and you have to make the most of it. You can't have the attitude that there is always next time.

 

[Lach72]

Sometimes you only get one chance and you have to make the most of it. You can't have the attitude that there is always next time.

Pretty much. Grab it with both hands. We're one broken leg away from being back in the pack. We're good enough this year. This is the one.

 

[clogged]

Pretty much. Grab it with both hands. We're one broken leg away from being back in the pack. We're good enough this year. This is the one.

I imagine if the team was knocked out in the prelim, none of Pavlich, Sandilands and McPharlin would feel it was a success.

 

[Mockcockpit]

I thought it would be at least the end of this week before we had an existential crisis on the Freo board. Anyhow, if we bring the same level of effort and skill that we saw on Saturday to two more games then we'll win the flag. RTB knows it, the players don't doubt it and frankly neither do I. I could never totally write this season off merely for the sheer amount of joy the victory over Geelong gave me but if we don't go all the way then 2013 will always be "the one that got away". We'll win.

Bear in mind though that at this point if Ross Lyonism was a cult I'd need an intervention soon.

 

[Moo]

It ain't a success until Nic Nat tweets it is.

 

[pokerspiv]

Like Sean Connery says:

Losers always whine about their best, winners go home and f*ck the prom queen

 

[Purple Suit]

It ain't a success until Nic Nat tweets it is.

 

[Freo2012]

Stupid thread to have just yet. IMO we are where we should have aimed to be. Would be very disappointing to lose the PF given where we are in form and fitness. Coaches will not allow players to lose focus or get ahead of themselves as we are seeing in every comment coming from the club, coaches and players.

Here's something interesting: If we win the PF and go on to to win the GF - Freo will be the only AFL team to have a 100% GF win record. Hint: Lets just take one week at a time, and quietly consider what may be.

 

[Arcassius]

I don't see how it's bullshit. Footy is all about winning flags and we've managed to get ourselves into the best possible position to win one. For me our win on Saturday raised my expectations drastically, I no longer consider pre-season predictions particularly relevant.

In terms of the H&A season itself no doubt it was a success, personally it won't give me **** all consolation though if we lose the prelim to a battered Swans or a middle of the road Carlton.

Pre-season predictions are good to assess where we thought we'd be and what our criteria *was* for success. We have a good opportunity to go further than anticipated - but if we don't make it - I *personally* wouldn't think of this season as a failure. Missed opportunity perhaps, but not in absolute terms as a failure. I think we've done well. You can think what you like

 

[JungleMuffinFTW]

Wut.

I'm not saying it's better. I'm saying our season can't be considered a success if we earn a home prelim, have the week off which we so badly needed last year and is what ultimately cost us against Adelaide and then lose anyway. Going purely by ladder positions is a terrible way of measuring it IMO.

It's situational, brah.

So what, you're saying that finishing 3rd, knocking off the 2nd places team in a qualifying final, is a pass, or a fail?

By the very ****ing nature of goal setting, if you succeed in accomplishing your original ****ing goals, you can consider it a success. You can't determine a set of goals, achieve the goals, set new goals, then shit all over the original set of goals because you achieved them. Jesus.

Agree,the clubs culture and respect in the footy world has grown,but if we stumble in the PF,to me it would be a very big missed opportunity.

FYI I reckon we'll play off in the clubs first ever GF,just hope we don't have to lose one to win one.

No doubt it is a missed opportunity, but that's a very different issue than marking the season as a pass or fail.

 

[JungleMuffinFTW]

This is the problem and something you actually ignored in my previous post, it's a bit insane to believe our improvement is going to be so exponential. We have a massive chance to not only make the GF but win the whole thing, I suppose if we don't then you'll be mollified with our certain top 2 finish next year eh?

So, it's a bit insane to believe our improvement is exponential, but when we jump from ****ing 8th place, to 3rd, and then knock of the 2nd best team in the competition, it's somehow not exponential growth? By using your flawed logic, if we finish top 2, and don't win 15 premierships, the season is a fail. Derrrp!

Graph it out, our season up until today is the very ****ing epitome of exponential growth.

 

[JungleMuffinFTW]

I am with Outshined.

If we lost after a weeks rest to opposition we should beat (Sydney because they are injury riddled and travel to Perth after a tough final against Carlton, Carlton because we are better than them) then it is a failure. That is because we have transformed into a team who wins the games they are expected to win, and can jag some that we probably shouldn't. Losing the Prelim would be a failure of that creed.

You can't just look at it from a singular match perspective. If we go from 18 to 2nd, and lost a prelim, by the principal of your argument, we are unsuccessful. That is just blatant bullshit.

People need to learn to disassociate valid expectations and successfully achieving goals from surpassing goals and wildly overachieving.

Look at it this way:

The vast majority of you are fat, balding and stenchy old men. If you somehow manage to bring Mila Kunis back to your house and have a bit of fun with her, it's not a failure if you don't put it away, because every one of you unintelligent and repulsive pigs are batting way over your average.

The success of the year should not be measured for the start of the season. The expectations change as the year progresses.

Absolutely disagree, vigorously. You constantly re evaluate and reset your goals, just because you don't accomplish some, it doesn't detract from the fact that you have accomplished others. We have finished higher in the regular season, and performed better in the finals, than every single ****ing one of you would have expected before the season. Failing to accomplish every possible challenge does not take away from that.

 

[JungleMuffinFTW]

I don't see how it's bullshit. Footy is all about winning flags and we've managed to get ourselves into the best possible position to win one. For me our win on Saturday raised my expectations drastically, I no longer consider pre-season predictions particularly relevant.

There's a distinct ****ing different between succeeding in achieving your goals, and winning ****ing flags. Using your argument, no team in the competition can be considered as having a successful season, other than the ****ing premiers.

No doubt it's a disappointment, and a missed opportunity to not win the flag when you are in the prelim/GF, but not winning the flag has nothing to do with accomplishing the goals you have set for yourself.

If you aren't happy with a prelim/GF after finishing 8th, feel free to start a Roast thread after the season, and setting up a ****ing poll to sack Lyon, because hey, if this season isn;t a success, then Lyon's position should be put under review, right?