Simply put, in the end the Blues wanted it more than we did. They came at us in the fourth quarter and screamed in our faces "how bad do you want it?, and we meekly whispered "not so much" and lay down and surrendered.
Watch the last quarter and see how far the Blues' forwards are in front of their Tiger opponents -- and this isn't a fitness issue. It's a mental issue. It's whats known in sports as a lack of belief. We didn't have the fortitude or the desire or the determination to keep fighting. Much easier to stop running and give in.
Morris and Chaplin played their least effective games for the year, though it's difficult to blame them as at least it looked as if they were trying.
We can however ask why on earth Riewoldt was playing when he clearly wasn't fit. (If he was fit, it's an even more damning comment on his character).
I love so much of what Hardwick has brought to the Tigers, but some of the recent team selections and match day decisions have been baffling. Why Hardwick played Riewoldt in the meaningless game against GWS is simply beyond belief -- he clearly was injured then and has stayed injured. Hardwick should've laid down the law and rested him -- compare Hardwick's decision there with Lyon's steely determination to rest ten players last week.
Jake King wasn't fit. Shane Edwards was utterly useless. Grigg was ineffective. Why was Pettard played in the forward line when he hasn't played there all year? Grimes has not been the same player since he came back -- understandable, given his injuries, but should we really have played him on the desperate hope that he would suddenly find the form of two years ago?
And most important, who will be our Chris Judd? Who will be that player who refuses to give in to the last second, no matter what kind of mediocrity his teammates are displaying? Who will keep fighting and raise the level of the team by sheer force of will? On Sunday in the fourth quarter, we had no one who put their hand up like Judd had done. This is a sad reflection on the leadership group, and on Hardwick's inability to instill this kind of never-say-die attitude.
The scary thing for me is that this kind of character, this kind of refusal to give in, is not a trait that sportsmen usually learn. They usually have it or they don't - and those that have it, you can see it in their eyes from the moment they play sports in the schoolground as kids. And at the moment, I can't see that steely determination and ferocity and never-say-die-attitude in any player at Tigerland. Cotchin is the closest we have, but a true leader would have gone back and nailed that goal from the set shot, not laid it off to Aaron Edwards (who had been dodgy all day and was on a worse angle). A real leader wouldn't have let that ball be pried out of his dead hands for love of god or money -- he would've gone back, slotted it through, and inspired his teammates to raise their game and claim victory. Cotchin's a great player, but as a leader he's not yet in the same league as Judd or Hodge. Hopefully next year, his leadership qualities will rise to the level of his exceptional skills -- and players like Ellis, Conca and Vlastuin will join him...
