GLASS HALF FULL OUTLOOK
Interesting how a week in football can so easily upend the perspectives of pundits. A loss for us to the Gold Coast (who have actually been playing very well) had us suddenly finishing outside of the 8 for 2021, and a win for Geelong over the overrated Eagles (who are a laughing stock away from home) had them inked in as top 4 certainties / potential flag winners.
Considering our sudden and deep run of injuries, we’ve actually performed extremely well. We have now beaten both of last year’s Grand Finalists, and the team that finished 4th on their home ground. We are sitting at 5 and 2 and lost one of those two games in the final minute. Also, we are yet to play any of the bottom three teams, North, Collingwood or Hawthorn.
Of the 28 quarters we’ve played so far, only in four of those (Q1 v Geelong, Q4 v GWS, and Qs 2 & 3 against the Gold Coast) have we been outplayed. Of the other 24 quarters we have either been on top or highly competitive. We also saw off 3 fast starts by Essendon, Geelong and Brisbane which showed great resilience.
We’ve weathered this current injury trough; hopefully that’s it for a while. Multiple injuries to key players is the only thing that will prevent us from making the finals this year.
Looking forward to this weekend’s game. Historically we’ve matched up pretty well on the Dees, and I reckon they’re due for a loss. Fritsch and Tomlinson out, Rampe and Buddy back, evens things up further. A very winnable 50/50 game.