Now is not the time to run and hide.

[mjp]

Bit of an adventure yesterday. Drove a LONG way to watch the game - on a tv at an establishment that served beer so it wasn't all bad.

Brisbane are pretty handy. You would have thought that losing a classy forward/mid connecting type like Bailey they might battle a bit moving the footy? It would seem not. Answerth is - of course - a good player but no real match up for him against us in any case.

+20 inside 50's is NO JOKE. But they did that on just 25 extra possessions. So nearly every single one of those extra possessions was an i50 if you want to look at it that way.

Think about that for a second - about the level of efficiency and willingness to go through the corridor that this represents.

Despite all of that - and the oppo coach crapping on that it would have been a "travesty" if Brisbane had lost - they very nearly did lose. And to everyone who says "no, it was never really in doubt" etc, when West kicked his 4th to bring us within a kick - well, we were only 4-points down and there were MINUTES on the clock. Check my posting history - I'm as frustrated with these close losses vs top teams as ANYONE - but make no mistake, this footy team has genuine on-field grit. In a game where the oppo seemed to be moving the ball almost AT WILL and dominated territory, they did not give up for one second. They stuck at the task, supported one another and very nearly pinched it.

Are things perfect? HELL. NO. And I feel like I could go on and on and on about our defensive plan and the sheer amount of physical effort it takes to execute it...I mean, I know we want to be a forward half turnover team but geez that means conceding big chunks of territory in a hurry with how aggressive we are - but this post isn't about that.

The way we chased the game against the top side (sorry, 2nd side) away from home when tonnes of stuff was going wrong? That's really impressive - it showed a hell of a lot of grit and character from pretty much every player - great leadership as well from Bont, Liber and co. It would have been so easy just to turn tail but they didn't - and they haven't all year.

Despite the outcome on the scoreboard and another close loss...I found something else last night. This footy team has a lot of grit and fight...the season is NOT over. All we need is just to tighten up the defense just a little bit...

[merantau]

I get what you say and I agree that we have taken steps in the right direction in terms of grit/ determination. However, it is skill that wins you games - skill with the occasional leg up from Lady Luck.

Our field kicking was poor last night. Our tackling was insipid

[mjp]

Our field kicking was poor last night. Our tackling was insipid

Really?

Disagree.

[comrade]

Reckon these honourable losses will eventually wear thin with the group and a big smacking is on the horizon. GWS game is a big red flag.

[Bornadog]

Totally agree MJP, I said in the game day thread the one thing which I haven't seen for years is the never stop trying attitude by the players. In the past we would have wilted and then smashed. We haven't had a smashing once this year (similar to 2016 when we only had one and the losses were less than 4 goals).

We are just that little bit not quite there and I do believe we need more contributors to get over the top sides. We are carrying a few players and not many in the VFL that can take their place.

5 games to go - let's make finals. You have to be in it to win it.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Our fourth quarters have been strong this year.

[kruder]

Reckon these honourable losses will eventually wear thin with the group and a big smacking is on the horizon. GWS game is a big red flag.

Yeah im worried we may drop a game to Melbourne. I reckon if we lose to GWS it will be the end.

[whythelongface]

Reckon these honourable losses will eventually wear thin with the group and a big smacking is on the horizon. GWS game is a big red flag.

Agree. Reckon we will win by plenty. The group will have had enough of close losses and will take the Giants to the sword.

[Go_Dogs]

Great post / thanks for the insights.

While I agree that it’s great we are not folding, and I mean, it is GREAT because previous iterations of this side would have. I am still concerned about how we’ve lost games - and I’ll use Brisbane as an example.

The first time round we’d built up a solid lead and looked like sure things only to wilt and capitulate under their pressure, talent and execution. This time round we “got lucky” their true kicking for goal percentage or whatever it is labelled in AFL was so below par. They missed a lot of gettable shots and we shouldn’t have been within earshot.

I get they also got some easy ones. Seemed they kicked a bunch for within 15m off soft over the back entries that we just weren’t able to defend.

But one game we got dominated in a half and the other for most of the night in a number of core metrics…. Both times we were in positions to win and couldn’t quite get it done.

We really need one big scalp, and then another and another… I’m still on the ticket we are better than last year BTW, absolutely, if we can get it to click we can be a problem.

[Go_Dogs]

Ps - hope the beers went down well.

[jazzadogs]

Our fourth quarters have been strong this year.

I've been thinking about this, and there are two arguments for our fourth quarter performances in these games against the good sides.
1) we are very fit and are able to come home strong because of this fitness
2) the opposition get far enough ahead that they change their game style to conserving the game, and our 'all guns blazing' approach can become more effective

It's probably a combination, but our ability to run out games has been promising. We need to combine it with strong decision making and skill execution in the big moments. West's goal was a big moment, nice to see him nail it.

[Grantysghost]

The Lions torched a lot of chances, I think that's the only reason it was close.

We certainly don't give up and I think Bevo extracts effort from the players.

Whether the system is good enough defensively is something to ponder, especially when teams like the Lions control their exits so well.

We need to beat Freo, GWS and the Demons to make the finals. We certainly will have deserved our spot if we do that.

[Eastdog]

Certainly liking how we are running out games and that is a testament to our fitness and conditioning team.

Bevo in his presser I think summed it up quite well. We need to get more serious with our defensive system.

We have played very well against those lower ranked sides which is great and very important in the context of the season but the difference to where we are now to be further up the ladder pushing for top 4 is not winning more games against the top 8 sides.

Very frustrating and sure we could beat them if we make the finals without beating them in the season but it is much better to know that we can beat them in the regular season.

GWS and Freo from this point on if we can win those they would be considered scalps.

[Mofra]

I wonder if our deep midfield hurts is more than helps us? At our best we generally play two defensive forwards (VDM and McNeill) high, who sacrifice their game and cut out the opposition rebounding via cheap 45s into the corridor.

Right now, we can't defend the corridor and it's killing our back 6.

Richmond in 2017 dropped "better" players for "pressure" players and they improved dramatically. Can we follow the same path?

[Sedat]

Richmond in 2017 dropped "better" players for "pressure" players and they improved dramatically. Can we follow the same path?

Agree with the premise 100%, but what pressure players do we have on the list to bring in? Our list is thin in this critical area, hence why players like VDM and McNeill are getting so many opportunities to cement their place at AFEL level.