Where's the pain ?

[Grantysghost]

I am gutted.

I feel sick.

I want to vomit.

I don't know what to say; what do i say?

We had it.

My pain is flowing from every Bulldogs orifice in my body.

This is worse than Prelim losses.

I'm struggling with my DOGS identity.

[angelopetraglia]

There is pain. This hurts to the soul. But this team has brought me so much joy throughout what has been a terrible year for this city. I love this club. I love what it stands for. I love how it has survived. I love how it won the 2016 Premiership. I love that we have played in two GFs in five years (which was unthinkable when I was growing up).

So yes. We capitulated at the most critical time. An amazing football team got a hold of us. We were not the only team this happened to. Our best wasn't good enough tonight.

But there can only be won winner. It isn't us today.

You win some. You lose some. That is life. We have a chance to prove the world wrong now. How you react and handle things in adversity says more about your character than when things go your way.

[SonofScray]

Might be a slow burn for me. I a, flat and it hurts, but not like 97, or 09.

We were there, our best looked good enough, just not for long enough. I anticipated someone getting flogged and think if that game is played 10 times, we win the flag 4 times over. Lots to unpack, but just not our day in the end. They put 10 minutes of absolutely perfect football together against the run of play and broke us. That we broke is what hurts the most.

[Grantysghost]

Might be a slow burn for me. I a, flat and it hurts, but not like 97, or 09.

We were there, our best looked good enough, just not for long enough. I anticipated someone getting flogged and think if that game is played 10 times, we win the flag 4 times over. Lots to unpack, but just not our day in the end. They put 10 minutes of absolutely perfect football together against the run of play and broke us. That we broke is what hurts the most.

Nailed it.

[Eastdog]

Everyone will have there own way of coping with this loss but I'm feeling like angelopetraglia. It will make the next flag much more special.

[Vred]

When your brown beaten that Melbourne is a certain win for two weeks straight I went into this game expecting a loss, it's alot easier to swallow if you expect defeat..

I'm sure once I sober up tomorrow and have to go to work and deal with my Melbourne supporting work mates it'll hurt alot more.

[Grantysghost]

When your brown beaten that Melbourne is a certain win for two weeks straight I went into this game expecting a loss, it's alot easier to swallow if you expect defeat..

I'm sure once I sober up tomorrow and have to go to work and deal with my Melbourne supporting work mates it'll hurt alot more.

Mcdonald and Brown would struggle at Gold Coast.

This is one of the great failures.

[bulldogtragic]

I get it bro. I feel it. I’m just not articulating it. I think there’s ten of thousands of members and fans feeling the same. I think my coping mechanism is to focus on how we improve and go one better. No words can give us back a rolled gold opportunity. But we all cope with it differently. Doesn’t mean we don’t feel it too, just perhaps we articulate it differently. But I’m hearing you and not going to argue the counter. Just have to hope it stings less as the days drag out more.

[angelopetraglia]

Essendon lost the 1983 Grand Final by 83 points. They went back to back in 84 & 85.

Hawthorn lost the GF in 2012 (after stealing one in 2008). They used that as motivation to go and do a threepeat in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Hopefully we can use this as a springboard.

[bulldogtragic]

Essendon lost the 1983 Grand Final by 83 points. They went back to back in 84 & 85.

Hawthorn lost the GF in 2012 (after stealing one in 2008). They used that as motivation to go and do a threepeat in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Hopefully we can use this as a springboard.

Hawthorn traded aggressively. We gave them Lake for nothing to secure that. We too need to aggressively trade to improve our fortunes next year.

[josie]

I’m upset but not devastated. Perhaps without 2016 I’d be devastated. Looks like the players hit a brick wall. And we were not able to counter centre clearances or reliably stick tackles, whether that’s on the coaches or players or both I do not know. For me it’s how the players and the club respond next year I’m interested in. I’m hoping they get off the canvas and are driven to improve.

Somehow the PF losses for me felt worse. Still really proud of the amazing 3 finals wins this year. I’ve accepted Dees were much better tonight than us and had more steely reserve then I thought they were capable of. Also worried we could fall short against them for a few years more. Their star power is damn good and they fielded a younger and less experienced side then ours. Without a ruck combo that could counter Gawn and Jackson and our inability to stop Petracca and Oliver waltzing out of the middle we were like the boy with his finger in the dike.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

I’m upset but not devastated. Perhaps without 2016 I’d be devastated. Looks like the players hit a brick wall. And we were not able to counter centre clearances or reliably stick tackles, whether that’s on the coaches or players or both I do not know. For me it’s how the players and the club respond next year I’m interested in. I’m hoping they get off the canvas and are driven to improve.

Somehow the PF losses for me felt worse. Still really proud of the amazing 3 finals wins this year. I’ve accepted Dees were much better tonight than us and had more steely reserve then I thought they were capable of. Also worried we could fall short against them for a few years more. Their star power is damn good and they fielded a younger and less experienced side then ours. Without a ruck combo that could counter Gawn and Jackson and our inability to stop Petracca and Oliver waltzing out of the middle we were like the boy with his finger in the dike.

Yeah I’m not yet hurting like after a close loss. It’s more disappointment than anything right now. Disappointment and loss of trust and faith. It’s gonna take a fair bit for this team to gain that back. Our last three weeks of the home and away season and tonight’s second half just prove we don’t quite have our shit together yet. This midfield should be smashing everyone else’s, yet it randomly rolls over and doesn’t give a whimper. That needs to stop.

[Hotdog60]

I’m upset but not devastated. Perhaps without 2016 I’d be devastated. Looks like the players hit a brick wall. And we were not able to counter centre clearances or reliably stick tackles, whether that’s on the coaches or players or both I do not know. For me it’s how the players and the club respond next year I’m interested in. I’m hoping they get off the canvas and are driven to improve.

Somehow the PF losses for me felt worse. Still really proud of the amazing 3 finals wins this year. I’ve accepted Dees were much better tonight than us and had more steely reserve then I thought they were capable of. Also worried we could fall short against them for a few years more. Their star power is damn good and they fielded a younger and less experienced side then ours. Without a ruck combo that could counter Gawn and Jackson and our inability to stop Petracca and Oliver waltzing out of the middle we were like the boy with his finger in the dike.

I'm with you Josie it was a great effort to get to the GF in the first place and I'm proud of the Guys for getting us there.
Melbourne have a dream run this year and haven't been tested with forced changes to their list and they were fresh coming in to the GF and who knows what niggles we were caring from the scrap to get there in the first place.
They hit us early and we fought back and in the process might have burnt all our petrol tickets to get there and once they got a shift in momentum we didn't have the gas to stop them.
I look forward to 2022 with a hope we can have a more normal year and may be fix a few gaps in our list with either new blood or a lift in the players we have.
If we don't get that extra ruck next year I hope we give Sweet a season to show he can play at the level as he should be coming into the age of when taller players start showing they can perform at the level.
It should also be the year JUH gets to play more regular so to the club thank you for 2021 and so many wins and getting us to the GF bring on 2022 I'm ready.

[josie]

Josie.

We were so much better this is all horseshit.

WHAT THE FK WENT WRONG?

Where was Libba, Naughts, Bont et al.

Why are we so happy to be second best?

I’m not happy to be second best. It sucks. Our much vaunted midfield let us down big time in a similar manner to Bombers match however tonight’s loss was I think in part being outclassed by some star players and lack of a competitive ruck combo. Macrae, Libba and Bont are all guns but none of them are quick.

[Grantysghost]

I’m not happy to be second best. It sucks. Our much vaunted midfield let us down big time in a similar manner to Bombers match however tonight’s loss was I think in part being outclassed by some star players and lack of a competitive ruck combo. Macrae, Libba and Bont are all guns but none of them are quick.

Line up our mids against theirs we win.