I can't believe that more people aren't peed off with tonight's performance. Practice match or not, that effort stunk like a truckload of rotten fish.
Preseason game where one team turned up to play at full on 100% while the other (us) had a number of players mostly jog around in 2nd gear not giving a stuff about the result. It really was bruise free footy from our part. We played like 18 individuals at times - any loose ball or spoil and we didn't have a teammate backing-up to gain possession. It didn't help that we had too many talls. Az Edwards plays like a tall so effectively we were playing with a 4 tall forward line (hello no crumbers) and a 3 tall defence against a small and quick Melbourne forward line. We would never set-up like that in a real game.
Apparently we played with only 4 on the bench for the whole night in readiness for the real stuff while Melbourne played according the NAB rules of 6 interchange and 2 subs. Word is we are also in a heavy training phase. So that might explain the lethargy. We did the same last year or the year before from memory against the Dogs in a preseason game and looked slow as treacle in that game too.
That interchange infringement was also a momentum killer. Az Edwards was about to collect the ball on our forward 50 yet the umps took the infringement from where the kick out of the centre took place, then added the 50m, giving Melbourne a freebie shot and goal. It was effectively a 100m penalty. It's a joke of rule! Imagine losing a Grand Final due to crap like that that has nothing to do with what is going onfield.
I hate losing but I remember us with a team of cubs flogging the Cats at Yea by 10 goals in a preseason game. These games and results mean nothing. If we are playing like last night against both Collingwood and Essendon then I might start to worry but not yet.
