Well that should have been an absolute flogging last night. But somehow it wasn't.
We got mugged n beat up all over the park n were somehow competitive for scoring shots virtually all game.
Lamblett n Dusty both played ordinary in the first half, out injured pretty much all the second half, then we lost the Grub late in the game as well. Which seriously compounds the fact that Flossy n Meatball are already out of the side n will remain out for a while yet.
Halfway through the last qtr we were down by over 100 possessions for the game yet had 18 scoring shots to their 20, we just failed miserably to convert a bunch of simple set shots that would have kept us right up Smelbourne's clacker all night long.
Nank played a mighty game of beast mode n was easily our best player, might not be the best ruck in the comp but gives us a heap of bloody honest contested footy wherever he goes.
Fish n Shai ( should've had 3 or 4 sausages ) were also very good for us, Shedda n Jaaack an honourable mention on a night when most of our team were bog average.
Smelbourne at full blast play a lot of similar footy to us over the last four years, not sure if they can keep that kind of hunger n intensity up all year. They played a big ego strutting grand final night last night n their fans ( those that bothered to attend ) loved it
. Got me a funny feeling that Smelbourne's ego boys might get in the way of them doing much late in the season, they had a fair bunch were very very happy with themselves long before the game was over.
Team needs a little bit of tweaking n refresh at the moment, injury hit will force a few games into some wannabe's, bloody unfortunate that the Maggos players decided to stink up their game as well yesterday.
Hoping like hell we use all our draft picks end of this year to refresh the list, Cotch has been playing some tired old man footy this year n Bash has too. Can't really see Cadds coming back to seniors n giving us much, plus I reckon Jaaack n perhaps Assa will be maybe at most one more year n cooked, so there's serious vacancies coming up.
Poor young Nigel can't take a trick at the moment, gunna be his second game of " No pay for you." Apart from an empty wallet, I don't mind that he takes no *smile* from anyone. Reckon the AFL Honchos won't need to be worrying about the budget for their end of season *smile* up, the Melee last night will nicely cover the cost.
Last little thought. The bye before the finals makes it way more possible for a side to play four finals and win the flag. Doggies have done it, got just enough time to get some crucial injured players back into the team.
We've done it, got the extra game which enabled us to get a touch of form into players who's season had been interrupted.
Any side that's fit and firing come finals time can do the four games n win it from anywhere within the eight, it might even be easier than having the double break.