Haven’t been this disappointed about a loss in a while.
We seemed to be going like winners at various stages throughout the match but never really managed to put the game away at any stage.
Not saying anything about some of the ‘home town’ umpiring decisions. Don’t think I’ll be able to watch that game again for some time, unless it’s in a straight jacket and wearing a muzzle.
While I’m at it, please someone tell me what is it about the FoxFooty telecast from Perth. Are they from another galaxy or something? Why do they incessantly pan to the bench when play is frantically in progress, or when a player is having a shot for goal? Isn’t that partly why they have commentators – to tell us what’s going on that we cannot see? Isn’t it simple to say, Joe Blogs is running off the field, instead of completely forgetting about the fact that play is in progress and switching to a player walking off the ground or sitting on the bench? Why is it a hard decision to make which piece of ‘action’ to go with?
I’m a fairly patient person and I’ll wait 1,000 years to see a Richmond premiership, if I have to. Same can’t be said for my tolerance levels though, coz I reckon I lasted about 5 minutes listening to those commentators before the volume button came into play on the remote.
Please, please, please, please God, no more games in Perth that are telecast by FoxFooty. Results and umpires aside, if the commentators don’t drive you nuts, the telecast will.
Anyway, now that that’s out of the way, for now, it was a fantastic effort by our players. Obviously we still need to straighten a few things out, but considering the team that was out there, we can be proud of their efforts.
You certainly couldn’t question their application, commitment or anything like that.
One query I have though, can someone please explain to me why when the opposition kicks out, they seem to have a free run all the way down the ground to their F50? I don’t know how often this happens, but it seems really noticeable in games at times. Couldn’t imagine why we would intentionally allow that to go on, time after time, unless it’s just bad manning up by our players? Instead of letting them kick out, we might as well just start play from their F50 line.
Moving right along. P. Bowden was fantastic in the first half. Some of his efforts were courageous. And there were a number of courageous acts by players all game.
There were passages of play where it resembled more a rugby scrum and you just had to wait for the ball to spill out before either side could gain an advantage. Neither side gave an inch.
It was a good game to learn from, especially for a young team in foreign conditions. Although it doesn’t seem to be so much ‘foreign’ conditions; more like alien conditions. I’m sure our players will look forward to getting onto the MCG in front of a home ground.
In the past when coaches have said they want their fans to turn up and give the interstate teams a taste of their own medicine, I thought it was just a bit of theatre. But after last night’s game, makes you realise what they mean.
Nothing to be embarrassed about and we can take a lot of heart from that effort. Just shows that TW’s message is getting through and players are improving and getting better. Can’t complain about that.
