Thinking more about the Eagles loss, ignoring the fact we were terrible aside from the 2nd qtr, there were at least some pros for later on in the season:
1. The premiership isn't decided in May and not in Perth (provided you avoid a PF there). You want to be peaking in August/September not now. The Eagles are flying now especially at home. Have they peaked too early? Remember we were 5-4 at this time last year after 4 straight losses (including 3 narrow ones).
2. The Eagles have shown their cards against us. We have shown a capacity in the past 18 months that we learn a lot from our losses and find countermeasures next time around to turn around the result. We won all 5 return meetings last year to sides we first up lost to.
3. Prestia was/is a big loss from our midfield. He's very underrated. Not only for his ballwinning ability inside but he frees up Cotch & Dusty. Hopefully he is back up and running when it matters
(Same goes for Rioli's class up forward
).
4. We (wrongly) carried too many sore/underdone bodies last week. We've looked tired in the second half the past two weeks. The bye heading into the finals should have everyone as fresh as can be for September. It's doubtful also we'll have the same 22 running around as we continue to sort out our best 22 for 2018 (more than likely different from 2017).
