No doubt fatigue was on of the main reasons that cost us the Elim. Final. We had all the signs of a tired team as the game progressed especially after half-time - the obvious lack of run through the lines, lack of handball receives, no quick play-on from a mark/free, slow predictable kicks down the line, no spread (both offensively and defensively), out-numbered and out-worked at contests, going to ground too easily at contests and too many out-of-position players being drawn to the ball like a honeypot leaving the outside unguarded. All up too many passengers with too much of the workload left to too few. It didn't help we lost Conca within 5 mins which would've mucked up our planned rotations and meant we had no one fresh to bring on in the last quarter to generate some extra run.
Footy, especially in the finals, is about maintaining your intensity for the longer than your opponent. We looked to be starting to fatigue midway through the second qtr and it progressively got worse. The tempo play before half-time was for mine a signal we wanted to slow the game down for our own sake; not just to stop Carlton from scoring. The problem is tempo play still requires hard running as you try to create and find open space to maintain possession otherwise you end up being manned up easily and forced back into your back 50 until you turn it over.
Anyway, we will need to build up our endurance, gut-running and repeated efforts further over the off-season just with the interchange cap coming in next year.
