Never have I personally seen such a low point in the Club’s history. Not only at the game, where from the get go we looked off the mark, but also in the hours and days afterwards as fan frustration and disappointment bubbled over.
At the game I tried to remain as positive as I could as the scoreboard continually ticked over in favour of our opposition. After all we were leading the inside 50s at half time, 22 to 19, so it was reasonable to think we could fight our way back into the game.
Returning from the major break however we went completely in the opposite direction and failed to enter our forward 50 in the third term until the 20-minute mark.
What does that say about our mental state? There was not one ounce of a fight back as we only managed one goal for the second half. This was a shameful effort especially considering our milestone players in Graham Johncock, 200 games, and Brent Reilly, 150 games. We couldn’t even find some motivation to give them a performance they deserve.
Another damning statistic worth highlighting is the tackle count, or lack thereof. We laid 31 less tackles than the Saints, a pitiful effort that rings true to us being ranked last in the competition for tackles. Five players failed to lay at least one tackle on the weekend being Dangerfield, Johncock, Reilly, Rutten and Vince.
There in lies another issue. In his after match press conference Neil Craig said the game was “boys against men” however I beg to differ. Yes we fielded a somewhat inexperienced team but it was our senior players who vastly let us down.
Our former silky skilled senior squad turned into turnover terrors. Some opinion I’ve sought since the match is that the likes of van Berlo and Vince are being shown up without the guidance of Club legends Tyson Edwards, Simon Goodwin and Andrew McLeod.
I can remember when the likes of these blonde haired midfielders, and others, first burst onto the scene and showed superb skill. Kicks were low and penetrating, handballs rarely missed targets and marks were taken with conviction.
Is our overall lack of polish a result of a loss of all confidence?
Furthermore Rutten and Johncock had games to forget with both defenders convincingly beaten by their opponents. I don’t think I’ve seen Rutten play a poorer game.
With belief on and off the field at a disheartening level I struggle to see us pipping Port in the upcoming Showdown. If two milestones in one match isn’t enough motivation to at least put up a respectable fight then how are we going to beat the Power who are notorious for rising to the rivalry occasion?
Kicking goals would be a start but we’ve got a long way to go after dishing up our lowest score of all time. Of all time! Only managing three majors in four quarters of footy at a covered ground where the elements aren’t an excuse was absolutely woeful. Three goals!
That’s just embarrassing.
We’ve had so many hard-to-swallow losses this year that our capitulation at the hands of the Saints was just the icing on very sour season.
