Keep the Faith - slight bump in the road

[stryper]

Are we really that surprised at our form today?
Smashed all week with interviews for the bullshit drug fiasco...
Very draining and players exhausted.
Don't get me wrong today we played very badly but we will be back...
Brisbane lets face it played out of their skins.Umpires definitely hurt us today.
Our structure was lost when Hurley was concussed unfairly.
Players weren't switched on.
I kept on waiting for the switch to be flicked and it just didn't eventuate.
Anyway my understanding is that we are almost at the end now with the investigation.
Life can go back to normal and we can play some awesome football again...
Go Bombers...
ps.Players will be cleared too...

[tonysoprano]

I hope so.

[s'dreams]

Players weren't switched on.
...

And this is inexcusable ... never diss your opponents and take any game for granted ... otherwise you come across as downhill skiers who don't deserve to win the tight ones let alone finals

s'd

[billyduckworth]

I hope you are right - that it is just a hiccup - but I came away from the game with a dreadful feeling of dejavu in two senses:

1. Other teams seem to have worked out how to bottle us up/shut down our game/frustrate us into panic and error. This has happened so many times over the past ten years it just is not funny.

2. We have started the season well so many times in recent years, only to fall away in the latter half of the season for whatever different reasons. Surely we are not headed this same way AGAIN!?

[stryper]

hmmm poor training session on Thurs...
I wonder why?
Had to affect us at some stage...
Now get back to it boys and tear those tickle me tiggers a new 1...

[Jazz_84]

was having a think on the way home and Etihad used to be our playground but maybe with the long kicking that we have started doing maybe it's not helping us playing there anymore, interesting to see how we go next week out on the G

disgraceful effort tonight though, just let them have easy marks all afternoon, and our decision making was just as bad... when our boys think they stuff it up

[paddyl90]

In Summary:

1) Not ideal however not the worst performance of the year IMO. Giants game would've ended the same if they were a few more years established. We wasted the ball again, we win most of the important statistics yet do nothing with it. So what is the issue here? Effort? Skills? Structure? Because we certainly can get the ball but manage to butcher so many chances.

2) Shootout games - no matter whether you're 1st or 18th anything can happen when those games eventuate. Could never get 2 in a row. Think all the previous form goes out the window you're out there in a match like that.

3) Mindset - Why does it change week to week and opponent to opponent? Makes no sense. Similarities today between and GWS game. Yet against better opposition we seem to be far better! We can be hard as members / supporters but we can't imagine the effects the interviews / investigation may have had on them. And you can all say no excuses blah blah blah but they've done so well despite the odds to date. Don't give up on them now.

4) Panic stations? No. Yeah it's disappointing and it looks like years passed. But we have the so much time to turn it around. Continue to lose over the next 4-5 weeks before the bye then yes get concerned. But until then we are 6 wins and 2 losses and sitting 3rd still. We've done better than what most would have thought to date. Have a little faith, even if you want to argue that they have given you no faith yet. We know our good is amazing and our bad, if that includes today, was not woeful but extremely frustrating and wasteful. I still think today wasn't as bad as Melbourne game last year.

Bring on Dreamtime! Big occasion, big crowd and a huge stage to get back on the winner's list in style!

Get back to you this time next week even if we lose by 10 goals ha

[JockStraps]

There have been worrying signs all season apart from perhaps the Melbourne and Collingwood games....our form is very much a precious thing right now and can easily be lost

I have already penned a post on this topic so no need to repeat other than to say, we are and remain a work in progress

[ZeroEffect]

When we lost to Melbourne last year I thought that was just a bump in the road too but we never recovered. Our players and coaches mindset needs to change. The obvious thing out of the loss yesterday is that we didn't respect the opposition, resting Gumbleton who is in the form of his career against all odds and starting Howlett as the sub where both terrible decisions. These mistakes where made before the ball was bounced and it probably sent a message to the players that the Lions would be easy beats.

[hop]

There is a Plan 'B' from Outer Space.

But we fail to have a Plan 'B' For Etihad.

Dejavu all over again.

[paddyl90]

Spent the night with the players....got a good understanding from their perspective. They're not blaming anyone or anything but themselves. Even though Simon Madden agreed that it must be having some impact on them. They're not dumb...Jobe even said " We are not playing like the poor team we once were." You can argue that all you want. The work is ahead of them but they aint shying away from it. There's a lot more to footy than we should beat a team because we are higher on the ladder than them. We'll have our bad games. And I take their word for it. They have been a bit off recently but they aren't giving up and that's all that matters.

[robbie67]

Spent the night with the players....

You're such a cheap whore JP.

[paddyl90]

Hahaha I thought people would not turn that into anything untoward....I guessed wrong.

[JockStraps]

Hahaha I thought people would not turn that into anything untoward....I guessed wrong.

Other people didn't.....Robbie did

[Jazz_84]

and Howlett told us he "despises" Richmond, so look for him to have a good game

and Winderlich simply hates everyone haha