bornadog
04-09-2013, 12:10 AM
3 September 2013
The highlight of the match against Melbourne was the second quarter where we did everything we wanted to do. It was tough footy, with lots of tackling and winning contests, but also the ball just moved really quickly. Our players settled into a brand of footy for 30 minutes that was very good to watch and be part of.
The performance for the rest of the day probably reflected a group that got a bit weary at season’s end and were playing a club that hadn’t had a great year but were desperate to finish off the season well, with their recent win against us probably in the back of their minds. Often you’ll find when you get to the last game, clubs will try everything in their power to get up for that day. They probably fancied themselves against us a little bit, but it was just good to get the four points and finish the year off strongly.
After the game, we briefly spoke about some of our key stats, and where we could’ve been better, but we moved pretty quickly on to the reality of where we are at. We’re proud of how our players finished off the year, but at the same time, we finished 15th.
We also reminded the players that since the Gold Coast game which was a pretty dark day for us — where we were getting criticised publicly, and there wasn’t a lot of optimism out in AFL land about our Club — we won seven of the last 14 games. Over a 14 week period, only one loss was a blow out, so we are pleased with the consistency of the second half of the season and how our players were able to regroup. The challenge for us is to take that in to next season.
There are a cluster of Clubs, which we’re part of that are talking about next year and are hell-bent on improving. Not all of us are going to go up the ladder at the same time because there simply isn’t enough room for everyone. What we will do is ensure our players leave on their break very clear on where they need to get better and the expectations we have of them when they come back to work, because this is a journey that still has a way to go. I don’t want people to think there’s a time frame on that; we will just keep working our backsides off every day to make our Club better.
Seeing our supporters enjoy and probably more notably understand where we are at has been really pleasing — and we’re glad we’ve been able to reward you with some good footy. The chant that went across the ground at half time of Sunday’s game was pretty indicative of our Bulldog people being on this journey with us.
Thank you for your support this season.
Brendan
The highlight of the match against Melbourne was the second quarter where we did everything we wanted to do. It was tough footy, with lots of tackling and winning contests, but also the ball just moved really quickly. Our players settled into a brand of footy for 30 minutes that was very good to watch and be part of.
The performance for the rest of the day probably reflected a group that got a bit weary at season’s end and were playing a club that hadn’t had a great year but were desperate to finish off the season well, with their recent win against us probably in the back of their minds. Often you’ll find when you get to the last game, clubs will try everything in their power to get up for that day. They probably fancied themselves against us a little bit, but it was just good to get the four points and finish the year off strongly.
After the game, we briefly spoke about some of our key stats, and where we could’ve been better, but we moved pretty quickly on to the reality of where we are at. We’re proud of how our players finished off the year, but at the same time, we finished 15th.
We also reminded the players that since the Gold Coast game which was a pretty dark day for us — where we were getting criticised publicly, and there wasn’t a lot of optimism out in AFL land about our Club — we won seven of the last 14 games. Over a 14 week period, only one loss was a blow out, so we are pleased with the consistency of the second half of the season and how our players were able to regroup. The challenge for us is to take that in to next season.
There are a cluster of Clubs, which we’re part of that are talking about next year and are hell-bent on improving. Not all of us are going to go up the ladder at the same time because there simply isn’t enough room for everyone. What we will do is ensure our players leave on their break very clear on where they need to get better and the expectations we have of them when they come back to work, because this is a journey that still has a way to go. I don’t want people to think there’s a time frame on that; we will just keep working our backsides off every day to make our Club better.
Seeing our supporters enjoy and probably more notably understand where we are at has been really pleasing — and we’re glad we’ve been able to reward you with some good footy. The chant that went across the ground at half time of Sunday’s game was pretty indicative of our Bulldog people being on this journey with us.
Thank you for your support this season.
Brendan