Depressing read and overall agree. However at least in more recent times when we win and when we have close losses, at least we are outplaying the opposition as opposed to the really ugly win against the WAFL team and that time we somehow managed to beat Richmond in 2022 when they had about double our scoring shots. Once we start routinely outplaying teams, the wins will come - something has to to give. Surely?Took a break for awhile but I've gotta step in here with some negativity.
That was a shitful display and lays bare this team's most fundamental flaw. Namely, they don't know how to win.
Think back to all of our most recent wins. Let's go back to 2022, when things began falling apart (again) at a rate of knots.
2022 WC: barely scrape by a COVID-ravaged club fielding top up players. The door never quite closed on the possibility of a comeback
2022 Rich: lose a 5 goal lead, regain it thanks to some Goldy/Zurhaar brilliance, nearly lose it again but are saved by Jake Aarts having the football IQ of a cabbage
2023 WC: lose a 4-5 goal lead, CT hits the post from point blank with a shot that would've iced it, we get a dodgy ruck free kick, just hang on
2023 Frem: cough up a 20 point lead in a matter of minutes, saved by Sheezel and the siren
2023 GC: massively outplay GC, they somehow score three quick ones to keep themselves in with a sniff, we're saved at the crucial next centre bounce by TT, and Curtis ices it
2024 WC: lose a 5 goal lead again, get it back thanks to a shocking umpiring call, Curtis eventually ices it
2024 GC: massively outplay them, don't make it count on the scoreboard, GC somehow claw back, and we have to rely on an Ainsworth miss (from a relatively easy shot) to win
2024 Rich: massively outplay them, don't make it count on the scoreboard, rely on Richmond to miss shots in the final quarter, before Stephenson of all people steps up, and Scott ices the game
Anyone see a common theme there? I certainly ****ing do. No one knows what they need to do to win. We can play like the Harlem Globetrotters for the first three and a half quarters, but sure as eggs are eggs, we will absolutely fall apart in the final fifteen minutes of a fourth quarter if we have the lead.
By my count we have three players who play like they believe they can win every game. Their names are X, Arch and Sheezel. The rest of them are the losingest losers that ever lost.
All the top 5 draft picks in the world will not compensate for such a mammoth mental block. We as supporters have a right to be furious. We've had a gutful of this. We've tolerated more abject shit than some fans of other clubs will tolerate in a lifetime. 'Oh, but 1994 was worse.' Give me a break. Losing a prelim like that is gut-wrenching. However, it does not result in long-term despair as you come to terms with the fact that your club has forgotten how to do the only thing that matters in football. You cry your eyes out about it and look to the next optimism-filled season.
Losers. 40 players on our list are losers. They are comfortable as losers and they expect to be losers. They don't enjoy it, but they don't realise that they have the power to step up and become winners. Until that happens, all of your starry eyedness over shiny new toys and this bloke's form and that bloke's form won't mean jack shit